A reminder to vote on Tuesday, January 15, 2008. This is an important election for Mayor in Matawan. Not that all elections aren't important but this one is right here at home. The last election showed us just how imperative it is for everyone to vote. Don't assume you know the outcome and leave the voting to your neighbors. You know what they say about assume! OK, so I saw the Bad News Bears too. Seriously, this election every vote counts. So get out and exercise your right.Only two names will be on the ballot, Mary Aufseeser and Paul Buccellato. For the record, we support Paul Buccellato. After observing Mary Aufseeser these last few years, at Council Meetings and based on her performance, DO NOT BELIEVE SHE HAS "THE RIGHT STUFF," to continue to be Mayor of Matawan. While she may be a nice person, that alone does not qualify her to be Mayor. She has shown us during her time as Mayor that she lacks the experience and backbone to be Mayor of Matawan. Even when direct questions are asked of her she defers to others. Not that she doesn't have an opinion, but it appears she is afraid to express them. She is not a strong enough presence to stand up when she errs, but lets others take the heat, i.e. Beacon Study Report. I want a courageous Mayor....in the words of Harry S. Truman, "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." Aufseeser should return to the private sector, where she might make a good volunteer.
We need someone who will fight for Matawan. Paul Buccellato has the knowledge, education, experience and guts to guide Matawan in the right direction. It is our opinion that Paul would make appointments based on experience, knowledge, background and who would do the best job for Matawan. He has the strength to stand up for what he believes to be right and to see the big picture for Matawan. Paul would not be the majority party, he along with Councilwoman Linda Clifton will be a powerful watchdog for Matawan residents. We need a strong Mayor in Matawan who can take the heat. Who will fight for the Police and Fire Depts. This is a decisive time for us all, we will be a Borough that has grown and thrived or a Borough that used to be a nice place to live. It is up to us all.
Don't forget to get out and vote on Tuesday, January 15, 2008.
22 comments:
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hey it sounds like yet another office in this town.every darn time I said something,she said"
NO I dont know if thats true"I wasnt there"
as i have been trying to get help with my child since Sept 19th! and it is Jan now!!!
What a waste of our money time and energy
"somethings gotta give"
Does anyone else not understand that last post or is it just us?
Outside Artist, Don't know what office you are talking about. However, if there is anything this Blog can do to assist you with help for your child please feel free to write about it and we shall publish it. Good luck to you and hope we can be of assistance.
EVERY BODY BETTER VOTE,
AND DO THE RIGHT THING
WASTE AND IGNORANCE NEEDS TO BE
STOPPED NOW AND FOR GOOD
Matawan has the highest tax rate in the county, an underperforming school district, a struggling business district, no plans for transit area development, a sub-standard courtroom, a water plant it will neither shutter nor repair, a dilapidated police station, and a mayor who’s running on her record.
If I weren’t living next door, this would be funny.
Aberdeener, Couldn't have said it any better.
Lets just get it over with and merge it all with Aberdeen.
Anonymous, What makes you think Aberdeen wants to merge with Matawan on any level? Why not have Aberdeen's Developer, Silver Oaks drop the unsubstantiated appeal of the lawsuit against Matawan? Currently Aberdeen pays the lion's share of School taxes. Do you want to increase Matawan's share of that burden? What do you think of merging on the County level?
Aberdeen's share of the school budget is twice the size of Matawan's because Aberdeen is twice as big and has twice as many students. Aberdeen's property taxes are actually lower than Matawan's.
I support merging Aberdeen and Matawan, not because it will lower taxes (I don't think it will) but because the towns are already integrated in so many ways, both physically and logistically, that we could accomplish much more with a unified system.
If Matawan merged with the county you can forget about the personal quick service that Matawan employees give the residents. There are already enough problems with the county dispatchers. If you merge Matawan and Aberdeen there would be alot of services that could be consolidated. 1. Road Department: Most of this department can retire. Buy them out keep whats left and merge with the already large Public Works in Aberdeen. Police: No more building problems. Matawan really has nothing special in equipment and what cars they do have can be repainted and merged into the fleet. Not to mention Aberdeen P.D. is understaffed for the size of there town. Wonder if residents there realize many times during peak hours there are only 3 officers on the road at one time. That is just completely ridiculous and very dangerous in a town that size. And Fire Departments: Make 1 building in Matawan. Keep the trucks that are still in good shape. With the Aberdeen Fire Departments you would have a total of 3 with the proper equipment. Lastly, First Aid: Merge the 3 first aid and keep all 3 buildings. Pay the first aid, make them Special police officers so they can also be used for other things such as special events and court. Oh yeah court: One court one town. This is just he big stuff. Think of all the other positions that would no longer be needed.
Oh and with public works working out of that very large facility in Cliffwood the building and property in Matawan could be sold off.
We agree with both Aberdeener and Anonymous. The benefits to merging are many and varied. We even see a slight benefit to taxes as well, since one the municipality is merged, the new unified Council will be better positioned to rein in the reckless spending of the school board.
Both Matawan and Aberdeen are controlled by the majority, which is Democratic. Notice Head of School Board supports Mayor Aufseeser. Doesn't that speak volumes? Has Aufseeser reined in the, as you put it, "reckless spending" or gone along with increased spending? Show me where she has even voiced a concern about spending? Didn't she support the Boro Administrator in his demands for a new contract? Did she voice a concern about borrowing $125,000 from the 2008 Budget back in 2007? Now these are current facts.
Merging under the County would be a beneficial move, where the expenses would be share with a larger taxpayer base.
I believe merging Matawan and Aberdeen would change the political dynamic. Aberdeen wouldn't be building affordable housing next to Main St. if they were responsible for Main St. revitalization. There would be development in the transit area if Matawan and Aberdeen weren't fighting over developers and development plans. As for the schools, if the towns were merged, we could change the law to allow for direct election of the school board president and hold him responsible for the school district's performance.
Thank you Aberdeener for responding to Matawan Advocate in regards to the benefits of the municipalities merging regarding the school board and spending.
MA: The current system, where the school board is not accountable to any one entity or voter base, allows each town a chance to vote down the budget, but there are many items that neither town can touch (the majority, actually). Since this takes up the vast portion of our property taxes, it is something that should be important to everyone, including, one would hope, Mayor Aufseeser.
If we merge as one municipality, the law can then be changed to allow for direct control of the school board. They wouldn't be able to play each town off the other, and have the shameful and dangerous spending limits (ie: none) that they have now.
The other benefits, including better police coverage and more efficient fire and first aid coverage, plus the ability to cut dead wood (wouldn't need two municipal clerks now would we...) from the payroll and reduce spending in that regard, are self-evident. Or at least should be.
We're not saying merging at the county level is a terrible idea, either, MA, it's just impossibly unfeasible and there' no mechanism for it to happen. The joining of these two already-linked municipalities is necessary and very doable.
What it would take, though, is one mayor, one administrator, one police chief, etc. putting the good of the community ahead of their own position and well-being. Do we have leaders that brave and with that much foresight? It remains to be seen.
Wasn't it Aberdeen who split from Matawan? At previous Matawan Borough Council meetings, Aberdeen had reportedly not been interested in combining services. Aberdeener, have you heard any different? Thanks to you both for your thoughts.
Sorry, but I don't know what services you're referring to. Obviously, Matawan Borough was once part of Matawan Township (now Aberdeen) but that was 150 years ago. There's nothing to prevent them from sharing services, or even employees. It's possible that Matawan offered to share some additional services but I've not heard anything. For example, we probably would have gotten a better deal had we put out a single bid for both towns' revaluations. I have no idea why we didn't.
Maybe its time to go to the higher government. The town is already linked. Of course Aberdeen is going to say NO! Who wants to take on a challenge. I just dont see the problem. Don't forget about the power that the council would have to give up. Ego's have to go! Chief of Police in Matawan and Aberdeen should be around the time where they can retire. The Captain of Police in Matawan def. has the time needed and the Deputy Chief in Aberdeen has to be in the area that he can retire. The police department is the only place in my mind that rank and file is an issue. It can be done but it will take work and money to give these upper administrators a reason to retire and loosen up the adminstration ranks. IT CAN BE DONE!
MA your memory is partly correct regarding Aberdeen and Matawan's split. The actual split occurred way back in 1895, when the residents of what is now Matawan Borough voted to split off from what was then Matawan Township. A bad decision it seems, what with our hindsight being 20/20.
Then, in 1977, the residents of Matawan Township voted to change their name to Aberdeen Township, making them first in the list of municipalities in New Jersey!
So while the Aberdeen residents did indeed vote 30 years ago to "create" Aberdeen, it had already existed, and in fact it was the Matawan Borough residents who decided to split off from them 100 years ago. Boy, do we wish they had never done that!
As for the likelihood of Aberdeen wanting to merge with Matawan, you bring up a valid point: Would they even want to? It is our opinion that although Matawan would benefit far more greatly that would Aberdeen, there would still be some benefit, and if it was presented in a clear enough fashion to the people, by committed and honest leaders, half of which would lose their jobs in the process, we believe in the people enough to think they would go for it.
There's a lot of "ifs" there, though. We still think it would go easier if the two Councils slowly but surely integrated services over the next five years so that at that point, five years from now, the people would really have no choice but to rubber-stamp a re-unification, but it remains to be seen if their exists any leaders with the vision, courage, and political capital to see this through.
P.S. We appreciate the adding of the "recent comments" widget. We copied it from Aberdeener for our own blog, and are glad to see you added it as well, it's a neat feature.
Truth in Matawan is correct that the Borough formally incorporated in 1895 but I go back to 1866 when it was formally designated a special assessment district, a process that eventually led to the to the borough’s succession. Now, the revitalization study suggests that Matawan create another special assessment district within its borders. I think once was more than enough.
I also appreciate the comments widget. Makes it far easier to track the forums.
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