I attended the May 26, 2020 Committee meeting for my first time via Zoom. After attending and participating in Holmdel Township Committee meetings for literally decades, this was truly the first meeting in a very long time I truly enjoyed and learned from.
The proposed introduced budget was presented professionally and even more so in an understandable manner by Township Administrator Cherron Rountree and Acting Chief Financial Officer Bill Antonides. Every public question and statement was responded to in clear and user-friendly language.
These two relatively new Township employees are a needed change from prior years when many public questions were dismissed in the past or discounted by their predecessors.
When a resident clearly angered by certain issues aggres- sively confronted Mayor Buontempo during the public portion, the Mayor responded in a respectful and calm manner to his concerns. There was no yelling or name calling as historically marked by prior administrations.
Deputy Mayor Weber stated that recreation needs should be met first and foremost by sustainably maintaining what we have before blindly building new. The Deputy Mayor also pointed to school budgets years ago being presented on a ballot. Deputy Mayor Weber aptly explained the largest portion of our tax bill, this year’s estimated $60 million plus BOE budget, is no longer available on a ballot as an option for the voter to be approved or denied by the public. Committeeman Prakash Santhana further offered an analysis of the BOE budget comparison spending in other districts he had recently presented to local media. Committeeman Santhana should be commended for going above and beyond for the extensive time and research invested in his in-depth investigation. The public was also made aware that the schools’ security is now paid for by the Township Committee. The Bell Works and Toll Brothers deferred tax contributions and distribution were also discussed in relation to Township debt.
Committeeman Pascucci was quite up-front in that comments from one member of the public were clearly framed as political posturing and that the speaker married to a Board of Ed member was related to a Committee Member involved in litigation with the Township. Committeeman Pascucci also offered an update on the ongoing progress of the new fire/safety facility.
The positive impacts in just the first six months of the new 2020 Holmdel Township administration has been most encouraging from timely releases of the agendas (thank you Township Clerk Wendy Patrovich) to T C meetings’ availability on Zoom and are just too many to go into here.
There are no more negative, destructive infighting battles, only constructive actions undertaken.
The current new transparency and respect given to the public by the 2020 Holmdel governing body are extremely welcomed changes.
Carole Balmer Former deputy mayor, committeewoman, zoning board vice-chair, planning board member, environmental commission chair, Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority commissioner, Save Sandy Hook corresponding secretary
The article originally appeared in the June 25 – July 1, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
