Thursday, July 23, 2009

Borough Council Meeting 7/21/09

Don't you just love Summer. Council meetings are brief and with little bantering. This Council meeting was quick and simple. No major issues. However, the Bill List was not published. This is of great concern to us. We believe the Bill List should be published along with the Agenda items for each meeting. Why make it difficult to become aware of what bills are being paid in the Borough?



Of course, there has been no decision on the Ordinance which would prohibit elected officials from performing work for the Borough.



See you at the next meeting.....

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think these council members actually want to see improvements in Matawan? Or are they just there to line their pockets? Empty storefronts, a down right ugly main street, day laborers all over the place, a transit village to nowhere, etc. I haven't seen a single improvement to the town in years.

Hell they can't even get someone to weed whack around the trees on main street. Do you think they would mind if I did it myself?

matawan advocate said...

Rome wasn't built in a day, nor will Matawan regenerate overnight.

FYI, the Recreation Commission headed by Joe Altomonte, Director and a bunch of volunteers planted and cleaned out the flower beds along Main St. If you are serious about helping contact the Recreation Commission. They can use all the help they can get. If everyone started being proactive the Borough would start to shape up. Thanks for your comments and we hope you will join with other Community volunteers.

Aberdeener said...

MatAd,

The work done by council members was won through competitive bidding.

If the ordinance gets passed, do you think costs will rise? If they don't, that would either suggest someone was gaming the system or, by coincidence, the borough suddenly needed less work.

matawan advocate said...

Aberdeener, You have been misinformed. There was NO competitive bidding. The towing contract was limited by a 2 mile radius. This limits the opportunity for competitive bidding, if any. While Chairperson of the Police, Fire, First Aid, Councilman Mendes, was given work from the Matawan Police Dept. A reliable source advised the appraisal from the insurance adjuster only went to Key Auto Body. Where is the fairness to other businesses in Matawan? Any wonder Councilman Mendes wasn't re-appointed as Chairperson of the Police Department? As Chairperson of the Fire Dept., he has been absent from many of the meetings to the dismay of the Fire Department members. As to cost, how would we know if there are no competitive bids?

We believe the Ordinance would be a way to prevent any hint of unethical, inappropriate conduct and prevent any allegations of scandal as we are witnessing in other NJ boroughs and towns.

Aberdeener said...

A 2-mile radius is plainly arbitrary and capricious. I believe the school district uses a 10-mile radius for bids.

I wonder what were the prior bid specs.