Start Small

by Greg Hatala

Since there’s been talk about cooperation between council members and residents, reflecting the talk we heard a lot of about “open communication” in the run-up to last year’s elections, I’m suggesting a few small, simple actions that could get the ball rolling.

This blog obtained … by paying for it … a copy of the borough’s 2007 check register. At least one accounting professional reviewed that register, and found quite a few questionable practices; others noted expenditures and payments that smelled fishy.

Perhaps one of our council people could step up to the plate and obtain the 2008 version of this documentation, and provide it to the blog. Doing so would possibly help answer a few small questions I’ve had for a while.

What, for example, is the purpose of that large red storage building across from Vermeule Park? Two months before last November’s elections, it was rapidly built, though I don’t recall hearing anything publicly announced about it. Little expense was spared, from watching as it went up. At this time, though (pretty much half a year later), there’s little if anything actually stored in it. Who’s controlling the purse strings on spending like this when other monies aren’t being collected?

Similarly, I was always curious about an expenditure of approximately $1,000 for “scheduling software” for the Recreation Department, software which certainly appears to be available to, shall we say, recreational departments other than North Plainfield’s. Again, who’s holding the purse strings? Is it out habit to buy things that other communities then use gratis?

And we never heard back from the mayor on the topic that was raised at the debates concerning the borough providing vehicles to employees for personal use. If we exclude police and fire officials (who, obviously, regularly respond to emergencies), what happened to any respectful response to the question of other employees in the zoning department and public works? The sensible suggestion was made that the mayor, who stated his belief that such vehicles were “necessary” because of the need to respond to emergencies, could instead provide mileage allowance to those employees if and when they actually had to respond to an “emergency.” Back then, the very basic request was made for documentation related to how many of these “emergencies” there were that required such response; to date, that basic request has been ignored. Open communication?

We can’t leave the Board of Education off the hook. That $125,000 “school athletic field refurbishment” project from years back, the one that voters rejected but which was done anyway, certainly appears to have refurbished little more than the contractor’s bank account. Not long after that work was done (poorly), the fields were in the same condition as before. Was there any actual oversight on this or similar projects? Is there anyone from the Board of Ed that could honestly say they were satisfied with the outcome of the expenditure of all that money?

These are just a few small examples of the kind of information that SHOULD be readily available, especially at a time when money isn’t growing on trees. With people throughout the borough losing their jobs or having their hours cut, any continuation of unnecessary or wasteful spending by the borough becomes even more problematic. This is a time to be finding costs that can be ELIMINATED, and the way to do that isn’t to talk about having to cut jobs. The way to do it is to have the person holding the purse strings treat the money as if it was his or her own, and find the WASTEFUL expenditures. Nickels and dimes add up to dollars.