Edgewater Park Mayor's New Office Soon to be Occupied

I have it from a good authority, a member of the Cafeteria Workers of America, the evicted Sewer Authority will be moving into their new office on Cooper St this weekend. You can expect the old Sewer Office in the Municipal Building to be converted into The New Mayor's Office.

When you get your new tax bill in July (may be extended till Aug.), you can thank the Mayor, Administrator and Township Committee for the 1/2 cent increase it will cost you because of their decision to evict and loose the $12,000 in rent they received.

Of course your sewer bill will also increase next year because of the increased cost of the new office space and moving cost. I wonder what the cost for the New Mayor's Office will be?

Also from the Cafeteria; Questions are being asked about why the Bee is no longer going to be mailed to our homes by the township? Is it punishment for the Editor allowing a few articles criticizing our Mayor and Members of Committee for their articles, and pointing out the misinformation in those stories? Where there is smoke, there is fire! Did the Bee Editor tell the Mayor, Administrator and Committee to tone down the political nature of their articles?

Will we ever find out?

You never know.

The Edgewater Park Reporter

Edgewater Park Administrator's Edict

I have received information that the CWA, who represents the Edgewater Park Crossing guards, has received from Administrator/Clerk Linda Dougherty, an edict stating that the Crossing Guards are not to talk about, hand out flyers or have people sign petitions about adverting layoffs in the township or they will face disciplinary actions. 

This information was verified by a very reliable source who saw the document.

Isn't it time our Township Committee get control of running this town? We need to have checks and balances with those we entrust with running our town.

If you can't take the heat that comes with your decisions, then get out of the kitchen.

Speaking of getting out, there is a rumor that our Mayor will step down and that the Deputy Mayor will take her place. Is that why the Deputy was in the Memorial Day Parade, instead of the Mayor?

The Edgewater Park Reporter 

Fw: Hello EP reporter

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: SS (Full Name Edited)
To: edgewaterparkreporter@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 4:40:02 PM
Subject: Hello EP reporter

Hi, I just stumbled upon your the EP happeningsblog and am very interested in keeping up to date on the"goings on" within EP. I live here on Cooper Steet in EP and have been here for 20 years.I have a wife and three young children and so I am most interested in what goes on around me. I am a bit wide eyed by some of the rhetoric that I see on the website and feel as though I have been missing quite a bit. I would love to be updated, if that is possible, with anything going on that I might have a say in.

 

Thank you so much for your work

 

Best regards

 

SS

BCT Notice of Edgewater Park Special Meeting (Held Last Week)

I checked the Public Notices this morning in the BCT and saw on page B8 a "Notice Of Unscheduled Emergency Meeting" held on Friday, May 15th 2008 at 4:15 PM.

The stated purpose of the meting to the extent known involves consideration of the following:

Resolution No. 2008-92 Resolution Appointing a Temporary Deputy Mayor.

I just love notices of meetings that are published 3 days after the meeting was held. Hell we can't get the agenda for the Township regular meetings ahead of time, so why expect the Meeting Notices to be advertised before the the special meeting is held.  I checked the Township Web Site and found that the April Meeting Schedule is still posted. Maybe the May Schedule will be posted when the meeting minutes are available to the public for the last 6 months of meetings.

I can see that our Administrator/Clerk is on the ball. 

We need to keep our antenna up, because the 2008 Budget Meeting just might be announced after it was held.

I have a question. Do we have an active Town Watch anymore? It seems that with the number of gun shot incidents and break-ins, the police could use the help. 

I will be posting in the future, the campaign fliers from the past campaigns of the candidates running for township committee. Only Tom Pullion (elected three times) and Chuck Ryder (ran and lost once in 2006) have campaign records. I will also detail the campaign donations made to those campaigns, so that you know who is trying to influence the candidates. You will not get this type of information from our daily newspapers. It should be very interesting and informative.

The Edgewater Park Reporter

 

    

Edgewater Park Budget Talk

It looks like the Governor will reduce the proposed state aid cuts to Edgewater Park by half or $144,000 and not $288,000.  This should reduce the proposed tax increase by 4.8 cents per $100. dollars of assessment. The increase numbers being thrown around were 14¢ to 24¢ and now they should be 10¢ to 20¢ with out additional cuts.

Say, talk about salaries, did you know that our Administrator will be making over $100,000 with the proposed employee increases this year. Maybe Bob Dovey doesn't want the job but I think we can get some pretty good talent for that price, maybe the person will have a college degree.

I found a green flier in my mail box this week, that talked about calling Township Committee and telling them "No Layoff's Of Crossing Guards" and to "Stop Playing Games With Your Children's Safety", to call 609-877-2050 to complain. Why do you think Council cares about our children? The Mayor and Council went along with her, vetoed the grant to install sidewalks along the last three homes on East Franklin Ave. proposed by former Committeeman VanBrunt. The proposed sidewalks would have provided a safe route to the School Cut-threw for the children living on the west side of Cooper Street. The children now have to walk along the West side of Cooper and then cross at the Hendrickson Ave intersection making the route to school twice as long. Whoops, I forgot that the E. Franklin homes without sidewalks, are personal friends of the Mayor.

I still like my idea of the Committee taking over "The Cooper St. Farm" and turning it into a theme park. It could be like the Miniature Golf Course proposed in Burlington City. Did you know that Organic Eggs are still $3.00 at "The Cooper Street Farm"?

Why hasn't the Township Committee made Bob B. Police Chief yet? Could it be that someone screwed up and didn't get the paperwork in to the State on time? Wouldn't be the first time.

Did anyone suggest at the budget meeting, that the Township Committee forgo their pay and Atlantic City 4 day Municipal Convention to help lower the Administrative cost? I think this would be their first choice, rather than laying off office staff. If you think it takes a long time for the meeting minutes to be produced now, just wait when they layoff office staff. Oh buy the way, the State Public Records Act requires that the meeting minutes by available as soon as possible, no later then the next regularly scheduled meeting.

I am anxiously waiting for more mistaken facts in "Taxing Tom's" June's Beverly Bee Article.

I think that the Edgewater Park Committee should take a lesson from the Delran Election. The voters will get even when they think politicians don't care about taxes.

The Edgewater Park Reporter

Fw: Response to cowardly anonymous comments posted on this blog

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Robert Dovey 
To: EdgewaterPark Reporter;edgewaterparkreporter@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 5:54:39 AM
Subject: Response to cowardly anonymous comments posted on this blog

I am responding to anonymous comments left on this blog Monday and Tuesday (yesterday).

My wife June Dovey resigned May 2nd 2008 as the Administrator/Sect./Treasure. of the Edgewater Park Sewer Authority. Her letter of resignation was acknowledged but not read at the Authority Meeting held on May 7th.
June's salary for this year was $36,000 for her work not $35,000. This salary was voted on and unanimously approved by the Authority Board members last fall. She had a five year contract that spelled out her days of work and hours. As many of you know, she was in the Sewer Office on many more than the three days spelled out in her contract. She never asked nor was she paid for this additional time. She was on-call for emergency calls and spent many a night and weekend responding. The current Solicitor for the Authority insisted on conducting most of his business conversations and email correspondences with June after the Authorities Office Hours. You can do an OPRA request of his emails to verify this.

June's job conduct and professionalism was never questioned in the past by any of the present or past Authority Board Members. June was appointed to the position she held by a Authority Board who's majority members were Democrats, appointed by the Democratic controlled Township Committee at the time.

There is much more to why June resigned than I care to write about at this time. I will leave it to her to explain in the future. What I am angry about is that the Mayor, Township Committee, Administrator and Several Sewer Board Members have attacked June's integrity with cowardly anonymous comments and letters.

Well I except the attacks against me because of my political involvement but not my wife. June dislikes politics and was not involved in it. She worked hard at her job at the Authority with no regard as to what party was in control. She gave the same level of work and dedication to all of the Authority Boards she worked for. These attacks against her are being made by cowards who do not have the gumption to make them publicly with facts.

I now understand why Lou Rapagna former Councilman, Mayor and relation to the present Mayor, was so outspoken about Jim Hall and Judy. Those of you that knew Lou, know how strongly he felt. I don't want to get into personal attacks and stories about personal issues that these cowards have in their lives, it serves no purpose and I have not allowed it in political flyers I have been responsible for. Many of my friends are chomping at the bit to do this in retaliation. I feel that if this type of conduct is continued, no one will want to run for office.

There is a difference between being a critic of a public servant and making personal attacks. Most people can tell the difference. If the cowards want to continue with the personal attacks against me, well fine. I am not running for any elected office now, or in the future. I did my 13 years of public service. I have no interest in any township paid position now or in the future..

My only interest is trying to keep the two party system alive in Edgewater Park. You need competition to keep the controlling party honest. Look at what unchecked party control has done to towns in this county like Willingboro. Do we want our town to end up like that? I hope not.

To end this, I hope to expose the cowards when they practice their art of personal destruction. By exposing them you will force them to craw back into the dark space they came from. I am glad that others feel the same and we need your help with exposing them. This and other blogs gives us a way to communicate and counter the anonymous gossip spread by the cowards, so I thank you Reporter, but wonder if you don't enjoy tweaking my emotions by posting the cowards comments.    

God bless and remember, just because we disagree doesn't mean we have to be enemies. June and I disagree 90% of the time and we are still married after 35 years.

Robert Dovey
  

Thank you Mr Dovey, The Edgewater Park Reporter

A point of interest if I may; Strange how the BCT saw fit to publish the gun shot story in todays eddition. Could it be they were responding to one of the comments posted on this blog? 

I guess if you want to build a miniture golf coarse with public money on public property,  you get a front page story in the County & Region Section B of the BCT but a serious crime story about gunshots stricking a home is on page A5 and 1 week late. I am still waiting to see if any reporters show up at the Township Committee Meetings let alone ask questions.

  The Edgewater Park Reporter 

Edgewater Park Loses a Good Citizen, Joh

Edgewater Park lost a good citizen and neighbor yesterday morning. John Burns after a long fight with illness, has moved on to his next life. John was active in many aspects of our community and a dedicated watchdog of our local officials. He was a past member of the School Board, Fire Commission and many other community organizations. He will be missed. Pearl we wish your and your family our prayers with your loss.

If John was younger, I know he would have created his own blog to inform the residents as to what our local officials were doing, and his thoughts on their performance. I didn't always agree with John, but he never took our differences personally. He always enjoyed a good debate. God bless you John and we will miss you.

Edgewater Park Reporter

I would like to add a few announcements pertaining to some local stories;

Tomorrow night 7 PM at the Ridgway Middle School, the local Republican Party will be having a Meet the Candidates Night with the Burlington County Republican Party Candidates, Chris Myers for Congress, Gary Woodend for County Clerk, Aubrey Fenton and Stacey Jordan for Freeholder. I hope you take the time to meet and ask questions of these candidates. I think this is the first time Edgewater Park has had candidates in town at the same time to meet our residents.

Township officials will be meeting today, with some Arthur Drive residents about complaints about the repaving project. It appears that the township is looking to cut cost and has decided not to replace all damaged curbs or driveway aprons.  It seems that standards for replacement are different for each property. You need to contact the Administrator if you think your curb and driveway are being overlooked.

The Township Committee will wait to introduce the 2008 Budget till July. Committee claims they think the State may reinstate the State Aid cuts, but the real reason is that they know the best time to announce a large tax increase is summer, when a lot of residents are away on vacation and can't attend a budget meeting. Committee will also claim the large tax hike, is a result of the increased school tax. The school tax increase is a result of the voters approving the School Budget in April and is added to your 2008 3rd and 4th quarter tax bill. If you have been following the budget announcement's for other communities, most have introduced their budgets. 

The Sewer Authority is moving to the shopping center on the corner of Cooper and Green Streets. I will be posting a copy of the Sewer Authorities 2007 Audit Report in a future post. You can see for yourself the increased cost of their operating and legal cost. This, along with the cost for moving, will require a large sewer rate increase in the near future. You need to attend the Sewer meeting and question members why they are letting this happen. This criticism on Authority spending isn't Democrat/Republican politics. The Sewer Authority has been controlled by the Democrats for the past several years, but Mayor Hall has replaced those Democrats who are not part of her click with Democrats who are. Mayor Hall appointed Jim Hall, Jim Daly, David Levay and Darren Atzert who resigned and replaced by Geraldine Wing. These new members are responsible for the increases due to their bad judgements and willingness to be controlled by the Township Administrator and Mayor. The Sewer Authority has always been independent since its founding in the 1950s. We in Edgewater Park have enjoyed one of the lowest Sewer Rates in the State, but this will change shortly. The Township Committee is also looking to increase the use of the Authority's money for their own spending and projects. So hold on to your wallet, you will now enjoy the Township Committee's increasing your Property Tax by a large amount, you can also enjoy Mayor Hall's appointed Sewer Board Member's large Sewer Rate increase, after all they think our taxes are not as bad as some other towns in the county. Just ask Tom Pullion.

The Beverly Bee will no longer be mailed to your home, unless as last month someone pays for it. I want to thank the person or organization that paid to have the May edition mailed. The township will no longer pay for the postage.

In the April edition of the Beverly Bee, Mayor Hall stated that "Edgewater Park residents are facing a state of emergency that was not anticipated." She further states that the Township Committee "expected to be rewarded for our efficiency". What efficiency? Just check the increased cost for operating the township and look at the increased borrowing. So much for Committee's definition of "efficiency".

I have also noticed when we have gun shoots fired or bad accidents in town the BCT no longer reports on them. Whats up with that. If we were Burlington City, well I will say no more, just look at your old editions of the BCT.

The Edgewater Park Reporter

 

May 6, 2008 Letter to Edgewater Park Reporter

The following was a letter I received from two local residents- The Edgewater Park Reporter

 

May 6, 2008

 

Dear Edgewater Park Reporter,

 

            First, let us congratulate you on your blog..... bravo.

 

Reading the blog, we became very disturbed to learn about all the behind the scenes action. Can you say conflict of interest? We think some of the information is outrageous.

 

A little bit about us, we've lived in Edgewater Park for 24 years. We're Independent voters, we like picking the best candidate based on their qualifications and ideas, not their party affiliation. Reading about the links between the different organizations, (School Board, Township Committee, and Sewer Authority), it's very clear that it's time to change some seats. We believe a mix of representatives from both parties, usually provides the checks and balances needed to run an efficient government, but enough of the political stuff for now.

 

The reason we're writing to you is that we heard the Township Committee and Edgewater Park Administrator are working on laying-off workers and/or totally eliminating the Edgewater Park Public Works Department. This smells of the "Willingboro School Board of Education" (referring to an earlier blog post). Willingboro did the outside contractor thing with the school custodians in the early 80s, only to change back to having their own after a night mare experience and spending much more money then originally planned for.

 

Believe us it will cost us residents more money in taxes if Edgewater Park eliminates the Public Works. Typically, an outside contractor will low-ball the Township to get the original contract and then jack the costs up with unforeseeable situation costs, ultimately costing more then it will to keep the Public Works intact. The residents will suffer, by NOT getting the same caliber of service. Our Public Works Department does a fine job and we should keep it.

 

Look around at other towns. We don't know of any that have contractors doing the job of Public Works. What's next.......contracting the Police Department?

 

There is an alternative to total elimination. As a last resort, the Committee should think about merging the Public Works Departments from Delanco and Beverly, and share services and costs together. As you know, Edgewater Park already does it with the Fire Department and Emergency Squad.

 

Ummmm..........So why was the School Board's budget (with an increase) rubber stamped by the Township Committee, when the Committee knew the State Aid had already been cut? Shouldn't the School board tighten their belt like the Municipal side has to? It must be something political.

 

And.........Why is our Township Committee running past dollars just to save pennies?

 

 

Keep writing the blog, we need to know what's going on in Edgewater Park.

 

 

Thank you,

 

E & A   (I withheld their full names to keep them safe from reprisals, E.P.R.) 

Edgewater Park Stealth Budget Meeting

Sorry about the break in the posting but I have been away. Lots going on.

I got back and looked at my back issues of the BCT, this took little time because the local stories are almost non-existent except for stories on Burlington City, and saw the Public Notice for a Edgewater Park Twp. budget meeting to be held on Tuesday, May 1st. Now I must admit that I didn't see anything wrong with this, and assumed (you know what they say about assuming) that the meeting was for next Tuesday (May 6th) and planed to attend Tuesday. I received a phone call from a neighbor about a flier that was delivered by township employees, asking that residents attend the budget meeting scheduled for last night (Thursday May 1st), and to speak up about the cuts in service.

I have to wonder if the wrong day listed in the BCT wasn't deliberate. The township committee almost always meets on Tuesdays and have held prior budget meetings on Tuesdays. What a clever way to keep the public confused and uninformed. Thanks to the employees who took the time to deliver the budget flier people did attend.

Other rumors, the school district is being told that the township's trash hauler, will no longer pick up the schools trash as part of the municipal trash pick-up. This means that the school district will need to add this cost to their budget, and will probably pay more for the service because the township probably gets a volume discount for this service from the trash company. By doing this the township committee looks like they are reducing cost, but in reality we taxpayers will pay more because the additional cost to the schools will be paid by us taxpayers. Mayor Hall, Donna Atzert, Jim Daly and Tom Pullion know this because Mayor Halls husband was the Business Manager for the school district, Donna Atzert was on the School Board, Jim Daly's wife is on the School Board and Tom Pullion also served on the School Board.

The School district also is being asked to have their maintenance employees cut the grass on the recreation fields, because of the proposed layoffs of township Street Dept. employees. This additional cost to the schools will be paid for out of our school tax. Because the majority of School Board members are Democratic County Committee members who run the local party, they know that this action will help the Five O controlled Township Committee look like they are cutting cost and since the school budget passed this year, there will be no backlash to the schools.

I think that township committee needs to explain what happened to the plus $250,ooo dollars they received last year for the sale of township owned land. This money would offset the proposed reduction of state aid. What did they do with it? They also need to explain why Township Committee authorized the installation of new rugs, the painting of the Municipal Building, and the purchase of new furniture and computers, when they knew that the state was going to cut aid this year. The township committee also needs to explain why they are kicking the Sewer Authority out of the Municipal Building and losing the $12,000K in rent that the Authority paid to the township. This loss represents 1/2 cent per $100 dollars of assessment.

We need answer to these questions, before the township committee starts laying off employees. It is easy to do this because most of the employees do not live in Edgewater Park and township committee will not be effected politically.

Township Committee and Administrator, your chickens have come home to roost, your past spending and tax abatement give-a-ways are now affecting our employees, their families as well as the taxpayers of Edgewater Park. Yes the state is to blame for the cutback in state aid but you knew this had to happen and you used the rainy day surpluses that we used to have in Edgewater Park.

To the voters who are not necessarily taxpayers, these are the people who you have elected several times now. Are you going to continue to reward them with your vote? I hope not because they do not deserve it. The proof of their incompetence, mismanagement and arrogance, is with the last several years of large tax increases we have endured. This is your reward for your voting loyalty.

The Edgewater Park Reporter