You be the judge.

[Sue_Veitengruber]

Can't wait to OPRA this document.

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/fiscal/bud_forms/best_practices_2010.pdf

[Pat Garaffa]

Lots of concerns there and also lots of good ideas too. 

I don't see us doing very well under the "Municipal School Relations" part and thats a biggy.  How much is spent in duplicated services?  Sports fields?  Plowing?  Maintenance? Supplies?  Healthcare?   

I don't know how all of it works but there must be a lot of efficiencies that can be found by sharing some of these services instead of pointing fingers at each other all day.

Home rule is a problem when it occurs between towns and no one wants to surrender anything.   Every one-horse-town in New Jersey has a BOE, a police department, fire trucks, emergency services, street sweepers or an expensive unused dredger and a SWAT team too.  The equipment is sold off or replaced - mostly due to non-use and rust. 

Farmingdale got part of it right.  They use the police, fire and high schools from other towns but insist on their own K-8 school, BOE, superintendant, etc.   There is still some work that can be done there and there is no reason why more of it can't be rolled into Howell.   

The worst part is when it occurs within the same town and everyone (Council, BOE, Police, etc) wants their own little kingdom.   

Hopefully it will eventually turn around before Howell splits into 7 wards with 7 police departments and 7 BOE. 

[Sue_Veitengruber]

If Howell was to go to wards under this form of government, the max they could have is four wars and there still would be only 1 police department, 1 BOE, etc. And ward elections only pertain to municipal government, not BOE.

The Finance Review Committee actually recommended having the BOE as the lead purchaser on a number of commodities becasue they have a good inventory system and they would have been able to save the Township some money on certain things. We even had meetings between municipal and BOE officials. However once the FRC was abolished, there was no one continually asking what the progress was on the recommendation.

I do see the state mandating consolidation of towns, BOEs, fire districts, authorities in the next five to ten years. There are many NJ municipalities that are only a couple, yes 2 or 3, miles square and many with small populations under 5000. They can't look to Trenton to provide them aid anymore because the state does not have the money.

But it could always be worse. We could be Bell, California!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-20/california-official-s-800-000-salary-in-city-of-38-000-triggers-protests.html

[Phil_Sanfilippo]

Sue,
       The FRC had some good ideas. Perhaps we were ahead of our time. I presently serve on the BOE ad hoc Shared Services committee. We are looking at some of these ideas. From what I observed since I became a member it appears that a large disconnect as well as a very large divide between the BOE and council still exists. I have adamantly voiced my concern that this is not the case much to no avail. Perhaps now that the municipality must comply with the letter from Trenton or stand losing reduced aid the to will be force to work together. Perhaps you could attend our next meeting an voice some of your concerns. I can't speak for the committee but I will  sure welcome your input.
         Phil

[Al_Miller]

Would love to see if a similiar check list will be done for the Board of Ed State Aid requirements. This might be the only way we get both the Town Council and BOE to work together or maybe the BOE Ad Hoc - Shared Services Committee will make some ground on this.

[Phil_Sanfilippo]

Al,
   Good observation. Both groups are very territorial and seem to forget that the taxpayers are the ones who count. I would not count on the two governing bodies to work together anytime soon. The Council recently adopted a Strategic Planning Committee. I don't know if they had their first meeting yet. Mayor Walsh and council if you read this post I would like to suggest that the Strategic Planning committee and the BOE Shared Service committee have a joint meeting after Labor day to brain storm some ideas collectively.
              If both governing bodies are serious about working together this would be a good opportunity to show the public that  things are happening to reduce costs and at the same time not duplicate services.
              Phil

[Sue_Veitengruber]

Phil,

The Strategic Planning Committee was 16 months late in being appointed. Remember the "reason" they gave for abolishing FRC was that they were appointing this committee. I think we all agreed that the manager and council were not real happy with some or our recommendations. They were the ones who stopped the shared purchasing suggestion.

When is your next Shared Services meeting? It's teaching season and I am quite busy with 6 classes this semester. However, if I can squeeze some time from my schedule I will try to stop by.

[Phil_Sanfilippo]

Sue,
      Next meeting is late September. I will post when it is confirmed.
             phil