Lately, Aberdeen’s town council has been taking steps, baby steps to be sure but steps all the same, in the right direction. I maintain we should encourage the council so long as it continues to move in the right direction. Others hold we should distrust anything the council does because it has so frequently betrayed our confidence. Both views are valid and founded upon recent events. - The town council has recently drafted a pay-to-play ordinance that would open most of the professional services to competitive bidding
- In the prior election, save Councilman Minutolo who was forced off the ticket, all the council members ran for re-election. In the upcoming election, it appears only the rookie (and lifetime Republican), Councilman Tagliarini, will run again, this time for mayor. (Those who feel they can discount the Democrats in November’s election should reconsider. The Dems are assembling a formidable slate)
- Councilman Vinci will finally pay his fair share of property taxes and is no longer receiving “consulting fees” from the party
- The town passed an ordinance to have a separate vote on council members’ salaries so that it would no longer be “hidden” or “buried” in another ordinance
On the flip side,- The town council doesn’t need to wait for an ordinance to end pay-to-play
- Financial shenanigans continue – Bill Shenton, new chair of the Aberdeem Democratic Executive Committee, didn’t just forget to file last quarter’s D-1 report with the state. He and Mayor Sobel created two new committees – One (ostensibly) for Mayor Sobel’s primary campaign and the second (even more unlikely) for Councilman Perry’s campaign. Excluding the names of the campaigns, Sobel's financial filing is identical to Perry's financial filing – identical contributions, identical contributors, identical dates, etc., including simultaneous $1,500 contributions from our good friends at CME. Worse, both candidates will be announcing in the next month or so that they have decided to not seek re-election - $8,250 for two local primary campaigns the party knows won’t happen. (Disclaimer: Councilman Perry is not involved in any party fundraising)
- The township is pushing through another Cifelli development, this time under the guise of COAH
- The town continues to reimburse homeowners $1 for confiscated land
(The APP’s recent headline that CME won a $402,259 grant to perform a remedial investigation of the South River Metals site is a rehash of a story from last April.)
Considering the conflicting data, I’d like to propose a litmus test for the town council –- Open all professional service contracts above $5,000 to competitive bidding
- Give landowners fair compensation for land seized
- Identify all people and entities that contribute to local campaigns and do business with the township
I’m even willing to make this easy on the town council and give the benefit of the doubt for 2 out of 3.
Should anyone complain that my litmus test is too difficult, please let me know which request is unreasonable. >>> Read more!
