Invasion of the police snatchers: Who’s behind it?

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin
Vos in Uniform: The next county police chief? Source: NJIAT.com

Who is behind the effort to snatch the Clinton Township Police Department?

After producing yet another harebrained “plan” to get rid of the Clinton Township Police Department by turning the police force over to the county sheriff, mayoral candidate Harmen Vos got yet another embarrassing lesson in government at the last council meeting from Sgt. Matt McGill, as reported in the Hunterdon Review (Vos unpopular with police in Clinton Township).

Vos’s first plan was to eliminate the CTPD and hire the New Jersey State Police to patrol Clinton Township. Vos gave that up when he learned that the State Police do not replace police departments.

“We must all work together”

That’s Vos’s answer every time he presents a cockamamie idea that he can’t work out on his own: “We” should work it out for him. So, what was Vos’s response to McGill’s detailed questions about how a deal with the county sheriff’s office would work??

“Voss [sic] did not respond in the meeting but put his thoughts on paper and sent them to the press.”
— Hunterdon Review, Nov. 2, 2011

Incapable of explaining his plans face-to-face, Vos begs off, goes home, and lets his Raritan Township (Tom Smith), Franklin Township (Paul McPherson) and county handlers write up his “thoughts.” At the previous council meeting, Vos had Raritan Township resident Tom Smith come to make the “police plan” presentation to the Clinton Township council. Smith cited freeholder Matt Holt and Sheriff Fred Brown in his presentation as supporters of the concept.

The mayor and other council members roundly rejected the plan presented by Vos and Smith.

Why are Raritan Township residents and a county freeholder backing the invasion of the CTPD? Why is councilman Harmen Vos playing mouthpiece to out-of-town interests in Clinton Township?

Invasion of the brain snatchers

We are long past politely pretending that Harmen Vos is acting with any intelligence or insight. Clinton Township is facing an invasion of brain snatchers. There is no thought or intelligence behind Vos’s plans — just external influences that are using Vos for their own ends.

Where’s the plan? Who produced the plan? Here’s what Vos says on his campaign website (vos4mayor.com):

For detailed studies and info on this great concept: http://www.njiat.com/sportsmen.html

The website Vos relies upon to support his invasion of the CTPD hides the identity of its owners in the Internet domain whois database, and provides the following contact information:

New Jersey Institute For The Advancement of Truth (NJIAT)
P.O. Box 571
Flemington, NJ 08822

E-Mail: Didymus@njiat.com

(000) 000-0000 Business
(000) 000-0000 cell

Are these Vos’s backers? They campaign for Vos on their website and he cites them on his. But, who are they?

A political power play for the CTPD

Sgt. McGill pointed out at the last council meeting that Vos provides absolutely no details to support his farfetched plan to turn the CTPD over to the county sheriff’s office. Smith’s presentation and the NJIAT “report” suggest that there’s a political power play going on: Vos has been set up by county officials who want our cops so they can rent them out to other towns to generate revenue for the county.

The alternate plan, which would never occur to Vos, and which the Clinton Township mayor and council should immediately take up, is for Clinton Township to directly offer police services to other Hunterdon towns that want them. Then Clinton Township keeps the revenue, manages its own resources, and the middlemen at the county — the freeholders and the sheriff — are kept out of the equation.

Who needs more county government overhead and middle management when Clinton Township already has the management and the team to make this work? Directly sharing its police services would produce real revenue for Clinton Township while providing a cost-effective alternative to other towns that can’t afford their own PD’s.

Vos sells out Clinton Township

It’s clear that Vos is now working to advance the interests of a few county officials who are desperately looking for a “political win” in shared services, and who are trying to build a police empire.

It’s no accident that two of Vos’s key supporters, Lou Reiner and Tom Smith, are from Raritan Township, where Brown used to be the police chief. Smith uses the anonymous NJIAT “guns and bible” website to justify Vos’s attacks on the CTPD and to endorse Vos, and that website relies heavily on claims of support from Holt and Brown. In a small county like Hunterdon, political tracks quickly surface.

And this is the most troubling aspect of the Vos political machine: Freeholder Matt Holt and Sheriff Brown have suddenly emerged as the brains behind this invasion of Clinton Township. They seem incredibly interested in acquiring the Clinton Township cops to man their planned “county-wide” police force. But using Vos as their point man has backfired, revealing political meddling from the county level.

The truth is, Hunterdon towns don’t need the county to manage a shared police service. They just need to go talk to Clinton Township, which has all the resources necessary to provide police services to towns that need them.

Why don’t these guys at the county go hire their own cops and their own management, and invest in building their own police department? Answer: They don’t know how. Interfering in Clinton Township’s business seems like a much easier strategy — especially when they can hide behind Vos.

Snatching Harmen Vos’s brain is one thing. But politically invading Clinton Township to take over the Clinton Township Police Department for the purpose of generating revenue for the county — that’s a battle they have already lost. Perhaps their next step will be to call in the Dutch Green Berets.

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Posted in Election 2011, Hunterdon County, Municipal | Leave a comment

How weak-kneed elected officials destroy towns

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin

This posting is a reprint of a comment that was posted on the nj.com Hunterdon county discussion forum under the screen name ExMayorNick on November 3, 2011. The posting was deleted twice by nj.com. It was posted in response to item #9168 (“Cork owns this forum” by “lessdrama”) and as an elaboration on item #9158 (“Attorney Robt J Benbrook convicted of DWI” by “ExMayorNick”).

In brief, the posting connects the dots between the behavior of attorneys who threaten weak-kneed elected officials, and the habit those officials have of selling out their towns and their taxpayers.

You know, lessdrama, we could perhaps have an interesting discussion or debate, if you had any interest in the issues facing Hunterdon and Clinton Township. But you’re too busy complaining that I’ve got no right to post information, my comments or my opinions — right after you “explain” that the purpose of this forum is for you and others to post yours.

A quick look through your recent posts reveals two things: They’re so nasty they get deleted by nj.com, or you’re attacking the messenger while rarely contributing to the substance of an issue. You never bring up a topic yourself.

You don’t think a piece of news about a local attorney belongs here because you don’t like the fact that I posted it. I posted it because a lot of people in the area know [attorney Robert J.] Benbrook. They’ve seen his antics, arrogance and dishonest manipulations in front of boards and town councils. They don’t know he got busted and convicted on a DUI because no newspaper has reported it. Now they know.

If you object to my bringing it up, why don’t you tell us all about Benbrook and why you’re so eager to protect him from his own public record? He’s an officer of the court. He has frivolously sued Clinton Township and other towns with the same gambit every time — threaten, pound them with paper, intimidate weak officials, and get away with it when they cave in to their fear of a has-been lawyer who’s accustomed to “getting away with it” for years. If he was ever a good attorney, he’s been riding that old reputation way too long.

When Benbrook got torn up in court in a recent Clinton Township land use case, it was revealed he doesn’t know how to deal with a town that isn’t afraid of him. Kudos to Clinton Township for mounting a solid defense and winning.

The story you’re missing is a big one: With that case, Clinton Township sent out a signal to opportunistic lawyers and their developer clients — If you want to play, think again before you bluff and bluster, because it’s going to cost you in court. There’s no more free ride for threatening our town. Lots of people got away with ridiculous settlements because past officials were wusses and sold our town out for nothing.

The last attempt at a big-time sell-out was when Tom Borkowski and Jim Imbriaco offered Pulte Homes a landmark settlement deal — the keys to the township. That was the last time town officials rolled over and played dead in the face of a legal threat. What few realize is that there was never any real threat — it was manufactured, then sold to the public by a mayor and planning board chairman who cried the world would end if Clinton Township stood to fight. Turns out the rest of us were right, and Borkowski and Imbriaco were wrong. Those days are gone.

Why is this relevant to Benbrook? Because for a long time he has personified the empty threats that were routinely used to get huge settlements out of Clinton Township. Guys like Benbrook started to believe they had incredible power — and that no one would dare to stand up to them and hold them accountable.

Then a N.J. State Trooper in Blairstown changed all that and busted Benbrook. That’s news.

That’s the story here — and it’s why Benbrook’s DUI conviction is important. It reveals that the breaks he’s been accustomed to are no more. He’s been forced to account. Credit goes to the cop who busted him and to the prosecutor who got the conviction. But no credit to the newspapers that haven’t reported the story.

lokayokel [another screen name on nj.com] makes an interesting point. You imbue me with incredible powers. Why is that? “Cork owns this forum.” I make pointed posts sometimes, and people whose public, political actions I criticize may not like it. But I don’t get deleted because I don’t call anyone an Anti-Christ, write about their spouses or kids, or attack them personally. I suspect you get deleted because your posts don’t include much more than the bile you’ve stored up about me — and people get tired of bile.

I didn’t delete the posts you refer to. Someone obviously did — and they succeeded because they have the power of public opinion and public decency. You should spend some time studying the difference between gratuituous personal attacks and substantive discussion and critique of people’s actions in the public forum — especially the actions of public figures.

Posted in Election 2011, Hunterdon County, Municipal | Leave a comment

Harmen Vos: Fire the cops!

Posted on September 26, 2011 by admin

Harmen Vos has a new solution to taxes: Fire the cops in Clinton Township!

You couldn’t make this stuff up… unless you were Harmen Vos:

“I think Clinton Township should explore the cost-savings of contracting with the State Police; Clinton Township is, after all, surrounded by highways already under the jurisdiction of the State Police.”

— Harmen Vos letter to the editor, TheHCNews Online

Mr. Vos must be well on his way to earning a degree from Spencer Peck University, where anything goes if you can think of it.

Ooops… The N.J. State Police do not contract their services to municipalities, except in rare cases where certain rural towns have no police force to begin with. The State Police do not help towns get rid of their cops. It’s not an option. Can Vos produce evidence that the NJSP would even entertain the idea?

But since when has Harmen Vos ever done any homework before announcing that he wants “someone” to “explore” yet another “Vos Solution” to taxes?

Now it’s back to his advanced curriculum, and on to yet another A+ term paper cum letter to the editor about yet another cockamamie “solution” to taxes… and the 2012 honor roll at Spencer U.

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Posted in Election 2011, Municipal | Leave a comment

School Board Gang of 4: Manipulation, lies, and now… the cover-up

Posted on August 19, 2011 by admin

Manipulation and lies…

They manipulated Clinton Township taxpayers out of $247,310 in tax relief. They refused to schedule a Board of Education (BOE) meeting before they ran out the clock at 4:00 pm July 19.

All the while, they lied about what they were doing. So this year, Clinton Township taxpayers will pay a quarter-million more in property taxes than they would have had to.

Now, Clinton Townshp BOE president Jim Dincuff and his Gang of 4 — BOE member Mark Kaplan, board secretary Patricia Leonhardt, and superintendent Kevin Carroll — are lying again to cover up this tax-relief heist.

“In an interview, Dincuff said, ‘I sincerely believe that the board acted in good faith, and we tried to be very transparent.'”

Hunterdon County Democrat, August 18, 2011

It is no technicality that the board acts only in public meetings — it may not “act,” and no one may “act” on the BOE’s behalf, without a public meeting. There was no public BOE meeting during the events Dincuff is referring to in his interview.

Mr. Dincuff is demonstrating corrupt governance and attempting after-the-fact to cover up his failure to conduct BOE business properly and transparently. During this episode, the board did not act. Rather, Dincuff and a select group of school officials improperly claimed to act as the BOE and misled the public and other public officials about public funds.

“School district officials on Tuesday said they were correct in their decision not to schedule a special meeting because there was too little time to publish advance notice of the meeting.” [emphasis added]

Hunterdon County Democrat, August 18, 2011

That’s a lie.

…More lies and a cover-up

The BOE’s Bylaws (p. 37) clearly state that only 48 hours’ notice is required for a special meeting. In fact, the Bylaws permit exactly the kind of meeting that board members Marc Freda, Michelle Sullivan, and Kevin Sturges requested when they learned about the tax-relief aid.

“Upon the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the members present, the Board may meet in the absence of adequate notice, provided that discussion and action is limited to specific and unforeseen or unforeseeable matters of such urgency and importance that delay for the provision of notice would be likely to result in substantial harm to the public interest and that notice is given as soon as possible after the call of the meeting in accordance with the provisions of law and this bylaw.”

The “school district officials” lied once again — to the Democrat. The BOE could and should have held a meeting any time between the announcement of the special aid and the deadline to use it. Didin’t Dincuff consider the loss of an immediate quarter-million dollars of tax relief to financially-strapped residents of Clinton Township a “substantial harm to the public interest?”

But the Democrat didn’t bother to check the facts, which are readily available on the BOE’s website. The Democrat has aided the Gang of 4 to skirt the truth.

(According to internal BOE documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act, Freda and Sullivan were the only board members on record demanding that the monies be returned to taxpayers before the July 19 deadline.)

Keep lying, keep covering up

This matter has escalated from a manipulation and lies to a desperate cover-up. It is clear that board secretary Leonhardt’s job may be on the line — her repeated, misleading statements that “the BOE decided” are amplified by her statement that:

“…this wasn’t in any way an oversight, it was a decision…”

Why else would Dincuff, a career school administrator who spent many years as a New Jersey school principal, disgrace himself and risk getting busted for lying about the BOE’s meeting policy? Dincuff was interviewed by the Democrat, which reported:

“About how Leonhardt characterized who actually made the decision not to call a special meeting, Dincuff said, it would have probably been better if she had clarified that.”

‘If she misspoke, it definitely wasn’t intentional,’ Dincuff said.”

Other documents suggest strongly that Dincuff was covering up for Leonhardt.

Who is accountable?

The BOE could have met any time between July 13 and 4:00 pm July 19, the deadline to act. Did Leonhardt also “misspeak” when, she wrote to board members Sullivan and Kaplan:

“Ability to use [the funds] for the year already in progress has passed…”

Another lie.

Board secretary Leonhardt wrote that e-mail to advise board members four and a half hours before the deadline had passed to take action.

“It definitely wasn’t intentional.”

How many lies must Leonhardt tell in writing and on the public record before her actions require an investigation by the Department of Education? She is a certified board secretary and school administrator earning top dollar. How many lies must the Gang of 4 tell before they are investigated?

Who is accountable?

According to superintendent Kevin Carroll, a lame-duck manager with no contract, the Gang of 4 is already hard at work on the campaign to convince voters to approve next year’s school budget.

Who stood up for taxpayers? 3 school board members who stood up — and 1 who fought.

(Want to see all the “school aid” received by the district for 2011-2012? The quarter mil is just a small part of it. Click here.)

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Posted in Municipal, Schools, State, Taxes | Leave a comment

3 school board members who stood up — and 1 who fought

Posted on August 19, 2011 by admin

The recent heist of almost $250,000 in property tax relief by a handful of Clinton Township “school board officials” was hidden from the public. But it didn’t happen unnoticed.

While the “board leadership” ran out the clock and prevented the board from meeting to vote on applying the funds for immediate tax relief, three board members stood up to do the right thing.

Board member Marc Freda sounded the alarm early on July 14, right after the announcement of the funding. In an e-mail to board secretary Patricia Leonhardt, Freda insisted that the funds be applied immediately for tax relief. He also asked whether the board was consulted about having a meeting to discuss and decide the matter.

Board member Kevin Sturges requested a different meeting — he wanted a committee to meet to discuss the funding, so it could advise the full board:


Board member Michelle Sullivan noted that the BOE had made a pledge, possibly referring to a school budget campaign promise made by superintendent Kevin Carroll that, “As promised, any additional revenue would go back to the taxpayers!” Sullivan cautioned that keeping the unexpected state aid “will backfire on us and will undermine our ability to put forth a credible budget next year.”


These concerns and requests fell on deaf ears. The “district leadership” — Dincuff, Kaplan, Leonhardt, and Carroll — had already decided what to do, as indicated on an e-mail from Leonhardt written July 14 at 10:28 am:

This was over five days before the deadline to take action. Contrary to misinformation published by the Hunterdon Democrat on August 18, that “there was too little time to publish advance notice of the meeting,” the BOE could have held a public meeting so that all members could contribute to the decision — as some had requested.

BOE member Grace Hoefig didn’t think it was “that complicated” — “I see no reason for any meeting, resolution or announcement.” She wanted the freedom to “spend on resources the district needs.”

Who needs the public watching over what the BOE does with a windfall of funds that the governor issued specifically for tax relief — when the BOE could tuck the money away? How did Leonhardt put it? “What to do with more money is always a good problem to have…” as long as no one is free to watch at a public meeting.

But records clearly show it was Freda who stood out as the conscience of the board, who stood up repeatedly and fought for taxpayers and tax relief, and who again and again demanded action to return the monies to taxpayers immediately.

Records also show that it was Kaplan who repeatedly argued with Freda. In a July 14 e-mail, Kaplan wrote to Freda:

“If the state wanted to directly give it back to taxpayers, they would have to send them checks, but we (the district) can’t do that.”

Freda’s point was that the district could “give it back to taxpayers” easily by voting to immediately apply the funds to lower the current tax levy.

In this e-mail, Freda challenges Kaplan and brings a sharp focus on the real problem at the board of education: Lousy governance. Freda defends the most precious tenet of representative government: A vote. “The decision to hold such a meeting should be made with full board consensus…period! You know that.”

Clearly, Kaplan does not know that, or doesn’t care, because he and a minority of four out of nine “decided” to keep $247,310 from taxpayers.

Freda’s exortations fell on deaf ears. The Gang of 4 — Dincuff, Kaplan, Leonhardt, and Carroll — rejected requests to hold a full BOE meeting in public where every board member’s vote would have been registered.

The result of lousy governance on the Clinton Township BOE — the result of holding no meeting to vote and listen to comments of the public — is higher tax bills when they could have been lower by almost a quarter-million dollars this year. You can thank a Gang of 4 on your local school board.

Now you know who stood up for the residents, voters, and taxpayers of Clinton Township.

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Posted in Municipal, Schools, State, Taxes | Leave a comment

Jim Dincuff, Mark Kaplan and the $247,310 tax-relief heist

Posted on August 17, 2011 by admin

In a time when citizens clamor, riot and upend their government in the battle for tax relief… how do they let $247,310 worth of tax relief get stolen out from under their noses… without even noticing they had the money to begin with?

The Story of the Clinton Township Tax-relief Heist

Without consulting the Clinton Township Board of Education (BOE), board president Jim Dincuff and board member Marc Kaplan decided last month that the Clinton Township School District (CTSD) would keep $247,310 of new property tax relief funds rather than give the money back to taxpayers.

According to CTSD documents obtained through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, school board secretary and board administrator Patricia Leonhardt communicated in internal documents more than once that Dincuff and Kaplan were the only two elected board members to participate in the decision. Leonhardt states in internal e-mails that Dincuff, Kaplan, Leonhardt and school superintendent Kevin Carroll decided that the board would not be permitted to meet, discuss and vote to take action required to give the funds back to taxpayers.

The Governor’s Clear Intention: Tax Relief for 2011

On July 13, 2011, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sent $247, 310 of extra aid to the CTSD as one of his new measures to deliver vitally important property tax relief this year. Dincuff and Kaplan have steadily complained that Clinton Township school taxes are high because the State sends more aid to Abbott districts than to Clinton Township. But the monies just released were part of a $150 million increase in funding for non-Abbott districts like Clinton Township — and were added to the State budget to help school officials like Dincuff and Kaplan reduce the local school tax levy.

Instead, Dincuff and Kaplan made off with the quarter-million dollars without the consent of the full BOE — and without permitting a public meeting and public comment.

In a notice to school boards, Acting Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf urged them to use the additional funding for  property tax relief:

“The additional State aid included in this year’s budget provides your district with a unique opportunity to reduce property tax burdens by lowering your local property tax levies for this fiscal year or the next. Using this aid to lower taxes is an important step towards new and effective management of our schools that focuses on improved student achievement, rather than increased spending. I urge you to join our reform initiative by applying these newly-allocated funds to alleviate your district’s taxes this fiscal year.“

What reform effort was Cerf referring to?

A July 1 letter from Governor Christie to Dincuff strongly reinforced Christie’s intention to deliver tax relief and asked for cooperation from schools. But board secretary Leonhardt didn’t deliver it to Dincuff until 17 days later, asking if Dincuff wanted it to be shared with the BOE — adding that “it is VERY political.”

There is no record that Dincuff and Leonhardt ever shared the governor’s letter with the entire BOE.

They had thwarted the governor.

The State finally gave more funding to non-Abbott school districts to relieve Clinton Township’s massive school tax burden. Leonhardt and Dincuff buried it, because “it is VERY political.”

Governor: I’m serious — this is for tax relief THIS YEAR!

So serious was Governor Christie that CTSD should apply the $247,310 to reduce property taxes this year that he took the unprecedented step of issuing an order delaying the date on which property taxes are due. Specifically to allow schools time to act to return the special tax relief funds, Christie changed the property tax due date from August 10 to August 25.

To apply the funds to reduce this year’s school tax bills, the BOE had to meet and vote to do so. Taking no action meant the schools would keep the money. The BOE had a week to act, from the notice of the funds on July 12 to the deadline to act, July 19 at 4:00 pm. But there was still plenty of time for board president Jim Dincuff or board secretary Leonhardt to schedule meetings. The finance committee could have quickly met to advise the BOE, and the BOE could have met to act. (The latter meeting would require 48 hours legal notice to the public.)

Gang of 4 Blocks the BOE of 9

But no meetings were held. There was no discussion, no deliberation and no decision of the BOE. No action was taken by the full BOE of nine members.

Yet according to Leonhardt, in e-mails she wrote to board members and to the Clinton Township council:

The Clinton Township BOE has decided…

…this wasn’t in any way an oversight, it was a decision…

…this was the BOE’s decision.

Legally, there is no BOE decision unless the BOE meets in public to vote. Leonhardt misled everyone.

According to internal BOE e-mails, just two board members — Dincuff and Kaplan — along with two administrators who do not live in the Township — Leonhardt and superintendent Kevin Carroll — decided there would be no meeting of the BOE to decide what to do with the money. They would let the deadline slip by so the funds would automatically be swept into the schools’ account. No tax relief for Clinton Township.

CT Council Agrees with Governor — Demands Tax Relief

If the BOE somehow misunderstood Governor Christie’s intentions and Commissioner Cerf’s urgings, then it ignored a strong request from Clinton Township Mayor Kevin Cimei and the town council. Township administrator Marvin Joss immediately called Leonhardt to notify the BOE that the council expected the tax relief funds would be applied for tax relief this year.

Without consulting the entire BOE, Leonhardt immediately replied to Joss via e-mail:

But Leonhardt was misleading Joss. She told Joss the BOE had “decided”… yet legally the BOE cannot decide anything outside a public meeting — and there had been no meeting. It’s not a stretch to read between the lines into Leonhardt’s intentions: She was misleading township government into believing the BOE as a whole was involved in the decision making. But the BOE never met before the July 19 deadline.

Leonhardt Crosses the Line

With that e-mail to Joss, Leonhardt crossed the line. Just 31 minutes earlier, Leonhardt had already sent an e-mail dated July 14, 2011 10:28 AM notifying the entire BOE of what we now know. There was no BOE decision. Board president Jim Dincuff and member Mark Kaplan were the only two elected members that “made the decision to not take any action at this time,” thereby letting the deadline pass and withholding $237,310 worth of tax relief from taxpayers.

They had thwarted the governor again. And if any of them now try to suggest that they were planning to “give the money back in the future,” Leonhardt suggests clearly where their minds are about the tax relief funds: “What to do with more money is always a good problem to have…”

…unless you’re the Clinton Township taxpayers who will never see that money.

But Leonhardt didn’t stop there.

Leonhardt & Dincuff Withhold Information Again

Township administrator Marvin Joss clearly believed Leonhardt’s statement that the BOE was going to meet to “have a full BOE discussion regarding these monies.” But rather than call again to express the council’s wishes about the funds, Joss sent Leonhardt an e-mail and asked that she send it to the entire BOE.

What’s not present here is a string of “clarifying” e-mails Leonhardt wrote to Joss between July 14 and July 18, in which she responded to several questions he raised about how much money was actually available for tax relief and how the BOE would handle it all.

If there’s any doubt Leonhardt extended these exchanges to kill time until the deadline was passed, it is erased when one looks at Leonhardt’s “District Office News” for “Week ending Friday, July 22, 2011” delivered to the entire BOE. This is where she fulfills Joss’s and the town council’s request that their request be passed “along to the Board prior to them meeting to make the decision on how to use these funds.”

Leonhardt’s intentions become clear — she did not provide Joss’s e-mail to the BOE until after the deadline to meet and vote had passed. The full BOE had no idea what the message from the elected town council was.

This time, it was the mayor and the council, and the township administrator who were thwarted.

Who Done It? The Gang of 4.

Patricia Leonhardt is the business administrator of the school district and reports to the superintendent, Kevin Carroll, whose contract the BOE declined to renew.

Leonhardt is also the board secretary and reports to the president of the BOE, Jim Dincuff. Since Carroll is a lame duck, Leonhardt is largely under the management and direction of Dincuff. This is clear since she asked him — not Carroll — whether to send the governor’s letter to the entire BOE.

When Leonhardt notified the full BOE that a Gang of 4 “jointly made the decision not to take any action,” and misled administrator Marvin Joss into believing that the gang was “the BOE,” she revealed who done it — who manipulated the BOE and deceived the mayor, the town council, the town administrator and taxpayers: Jim Dincuff, Mark Kaplan, Kevin Carroll, and Patricia Leonhardt.

How do just two elected members of the BOE pull this off? Good question, and the only answer seems to be: Poor BOE Governance.

Led by Jim Dincuff, the Gang of 4 had an obligation to convene the full BOE so it could deliberate and vote on what to do with $247,310 of tax relief funds provided by the governor for that purpose.

But the profound mockery of representative government is revealed in something more onerous.

Again: Total Disdain for the Public

By depriving the elected members of the BOE of their right to meet and decide, the Gang of 4 also deprived the residents of Clinton Township of an open, public meeting where any and every taxpayer could exercise his and her freedom to comment and ask questions — before their tax relief was sucked into the dark hole of the BOE’s books.

The real crime against Clinton Township is that the Gang of 4 violated the public’s right to know and to participate in decisions that are rightfully theirs.

The Gang of 4 recently exposed their disdain for public input by trying to sneak a quick renewal of Carroll’s contract past the public. The massive public outcry over that event killed Carroll’s contract — and the BOE’s credibility. One would think the Gang of 4 would have gone out of its way to run a clean operation — and to regain some part of the public’s faith — by proudly giving the tax relief over to taxpayers immediately. (In fact, some of the new BOE members — a minority — demonstrated integrity and argued for the public’s right to the funds — and we’ll address that in a future posting.)

It’s Time for the Gang of 4 to Go

BOE president Jim Dincuff and BOE member Mark Kaplan should immediately resign, and the BOE should expeditiously terminate business administrator Patricia Leonhardt, for:

  • Withholding information from the BOE and from the public,
  • Misrepresenting the actions of the BOE, when the BOE took no actions throughout this episode,
  • Impersonating the elected BOE (“this wasn’t in any way an oversight, it was a decision”)
  • Their “joint decision” to prevent the BOE from meeting and voting,
  • For their concerted and successful efforts to mislead the public, the mayor and council, and the township administrator, and
  • For conducting the heist of $247,310 worth of desperately needed tax relief funds.

In the next edition, we’ll look at who stood up to fight the Gang of 4.

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Posted in Municipal, Schools, Taxes | Leave a comment

Where is Harmen Vos?

Posted on August 17, 2011 by admin

Clinton Township councilman Harmen Vos campaigned for change in government, promising to represent his constituents with honesty and vigor. Most important, he promised to LOWER TAXES.

We’d settle for Vos just showing up.

During his recent mayoral campaign, Vos criticized Mayor Kevin Cimei for having a job and claimed that because he himself is “semi-retired,” he’d be available to do the job of mayor full time.

Vos has missed two of the last four council meetings. He’s the council’s liaison to the Clinton Township school board — and is supposed to attend board meetings and report back to the council afterwards.

Not only has Vos not attended recent school board meetings or reported on school business, Vos missed the biggest tax relief heist Clinton Township taxpayers have ever been subjedted to. When Governor Chris Christie sent $247,310 in tax relief to the school board last month, Vos took no action when the board kept the money.

One wonders, is Vos too busy over at the Clinton House meeting with his campaign funders, Alex Patullo and Chuck Urban, to do his job on the council?

It does’t take much to be a hero when you’re the guy assigned to watch the Clinton Township school board. Just pay attention, observe the CTSD BOE’s sleight of fiscal hand, and raise the alarm.

Taxpayers are being robbed blind, but Harmen Vos is nowhere to be found.

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School Board Admin Misleads BOE, Clinton Township Council, Taxpayers about $247K of Tax Relief

Posted on August 16, 2011 by admin

According to documents obtained via the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), the Clinton Township School District’s Business Adminstrator, Patricia Leonhardt, misled the Board of Education, the municipal administrator and town council, and taxpayers into believing the Board of Education had taken action on $247,310 of tax relief funds.

The result? Clinton Township taxpayers will pay $247,310 more than necessary in property taxes starting with their August 25 bill next week.

On July 12, New Jersey Governor Christie surprised the Clinton Township schools with $247,310 of unexpected State aid — urging the district to immediately give it back to taxpayers in the form of tax relief this year.

This money was for tax relief

So determined was Christie that this money should be used to lower current property tax bills, that he ordered an extension to the date on which property taxes are normally due — in order to give the school district time to properly apply the quarter million dollars as a reduction of the school tax levy this year. Christie gave schools across New Jersey until 4:00 pm on Tuesday, July 19 to take this action. (And your April property taxes are due August 25, not August 10.)

But contrary to written notices that Leonhardt sent to the Board of Education, to Clinton Township municipal Administrator Marvin Joss, and the Clinton Township Council, the Board of Education never took any action about what to do with that $247,310.

The result? The funds automatically went into the school board’s account, available to be spent next year.

Precious time wasted — No action taken — Money goes to school board instead

Meanwhile, the Clinton Township Council learned about the tax relief funds and quickly directed Administrator Joss to notify the school board that the Council expected the new funds would be applied as tax relief this year. Leonhard responded:

The date was July 14 — five days before the deadline for the school board to meet and vote to return the monies to taxpayers.

But the BOE had not decided anything because it had not met and no meeting was ever scheduled. No one is authorized to “decide” anything on behalf of the BOE except a majority of the BOE. And Leonhardt should not have referred to a BOE decision because there was none.

An Oversight, Or a Ploy to Withhold Tax Relief Money?

The notice to Joss seemed to be a calculated ploy to suggest to the town Council that the BOE was taking care of business, while it was actually withholding tax relief monies by letting the decision deadline pass quietly…

On July 18, one day before the deadline for the board to act, Leonhardt sent this e-mail to two board members:

But the BOE had made no decision. By that point, it was indeed too late, because to convene a meeting of the BOE, legal notice to newspapers is required 48 hours in advance. Leonhardt or board president Jim Dincuff could given proper notice the week the governor issued the funds, and could have scheduled a BOE meeting in time to act.

They did not. Instead, Leonhardt — and whoever authorized her to make the misleading statements — stated “the BOE has decided.”

Once Again, The BOE Hides the Money

Later in the week, Leonhardt delivered her weekly “DON”  or “District Office News,” which is circulated to all board members:

The Business Administrator referred to a “decision” of the Clinton Township School Board three different times over the course of a week — a decision that was never made.

The failure to act resulted in the school board withholding $247,310 of tax relief from current tax bills.

It’s a month later now. No newspaper has reported that taxpayers were deprived of a quarter million in tax relief, which would have saved money for families in dire straits today. The BOE has never notified taxpayers that the quarter million POOF! just disappeared.

Nor has anyone notified taxpayers that the board members they elected had a choice to meet and vote to pass along the tax relief that Governor Christie intended.

What happens to the money now? Clinton taxpayers can have fun chasing it, because next year, the school board is free to spend it.

Who’s behind all this? Who actually “decided?” Click here for answers.

Who tried to stop it? The board members who wanted a meeting.

Why don’t you know about this? The cover-up.

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Posted in Municipal, Schools, Taxes | Leave a comment

Imbriaco & Marra: “Leaves are YOUR problem now!”

Posted on August 11, 2011 by admin

At tonight’s Clinton Township council meeting, Mayor Kevin Cimei once again tried to get the council to approve buying replacement equipment for doing leaf pickup each fall. Only one of the Township’s leaf machines works — the others are worn out, broken, inoperable. Without new equipment, there will be no leaf pickup this fall.

Tonight and at the last council meeting, councilmen Jim Imbriaco and Peter Marra made it clear: Your leaves are your problem now. The two refused to support continuing leaf pickup, but scratched their heads and came up with “great alternatives” for residents who begged the council to continue the program:

1. Mulch your leaves in your own yard: One resident explained he already does that, but his two mulch piles — 6X6 and 10X20 — can’t handle all his leaves. He counts on leaf pickup.

2. Bring your leaves to a central leaf depot: Except the Township has no leaf depot where residents can take their own leaves. The one used by the Department of Public Works (DPW) will not accept bagged leaves or any leaves from residents. Imbriaco and Marra grappled with this one — until Imbriaco suggested that maybe the Township can find somewhere for residents to take their leaves. He just doesn’t know where.

Another resident asked what size vehicle the duo thought would be required to “move” his estimated 7,500 cubic feet of leaves — and that’s just half the leaves from his yard. He said he mulches the rest, but 7,500 cubic feet won’t fit into his pickup, even with several trips to… where?

3. Hire a company to take your leaves. Imbriaco, Marra and councilman Harmen Vos think this is a great idea. (Vos runs his own landscaping business — EXCELLENT idea!) Pa-y-y-y-y!

The mayor explained that replacement equipment would cost about $80,000 with a life expectancy of 25 years. The amortized annual cost to buy the necessary equipment to continue doing leaf pickup would be about $4,000 per year to the Township, or about $1 per year per household.

Another resident pointed out that leaves that don’t get picked up will blow from yard to yard and into streets and roads, drainage gulleys and stormwater drains and detention basins. The cost to the Township is unknown, because NJ DEP regulations require stormwater systems to be kept clear — DPW will have to clean up when leaves clog these systems.

The head of the DPW department explained that it takes a crew of 8 working 8 hour days for 2 months to do the annual leaf pickup. It’s clear a lot of Clinton Township residents use and rely on this service every fall. (The mayor, who supports leaf pickup, says he gets more complaints about leaf pickup than any other topic.)

But naysayers Imbriaco and Marra — who seem to view this proudly as an accomplishment in saving tax dollars — have not investigated any alternatives. It’s clear the only “work” they put into this happened at the council meeting — ideas off the top of their heads. Imbriaco and Marra suggest that you hire a private company to come remove your leaves — and forget about economy of scale and the savings only a municipality enjoys by having existing employees do the work… at a cost for equipment of about $1 per household per year.

Mayor Cimei pointed out that without immediate action to allocate funds to buy the replacement equipment, the “window” has closed for this year. He made a motion to make the purchase, but no one seconded it. The motion died.

The DPW chief stated that if equipment is not ordered immediately, it will not arrive in time for this fall’s leaf pickup.

You pay taxes in Clinton Township — a lot of taxes. And if you have a house and a yard and trees, you count on leaf pickup every fall. But starting this year, you’re on your own. Your leaves are your problem now. And, uh, don’t forget to pay your tax bill by August 25.

Councilmen Jim Imbriaco and Peter Marra will be running for re-election in the June 2012 Primary.

It’s too late this year for leaf pickup in the fall. If you want leaf pick-up for Fall 2012 — Elect 2 new council members in Spring 2012!

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Posted in Municipal, Taxes | Leave a comment

Superintendent Carroll Declines Contract Renewal

Posted on June 24, 2011 by admin

Beleagured Clinton Township Superintendent Kevin Carroll has formally requested that the Board of Education not renew his contract, in a letter dated June 24, 2011.

The wording of Carroll’s letter reveals that this is not a resignation. Carroll notifies that per his existing contract, his last day of work will be June 30, 2012. Under NJ statute, a BOE is required to give a superintendent a year’s notice about its intentions regarding his contract.

From a strategic career standpoint, Carroll now avoids a possible vote to reject his contract renewal at the June 27th BOE meeting, and any associated blemish on his record. But Clinton Township residents, parents and teachers have already made their “performance review” of Carroll a matter of the public record. And they’re not happy.

Following public demands, voiced at the June 13 BOE meeting, that the BOE not renew Carroll’s contract at its June 27 meeting, the CTSD teachers notified the BOE on June 20 that 81% of them had voted “no confidence” in Carroll.

The teachers said this was an unprecedented action: The teachers have never voted “no confidence” in a superintendent before. More than any other individual action, the teachers’ vote may have led to Carroll’s sudden notice to the BOE. Combined with information provided by the public at the BOE meetings and in recent letters to the editor, it seems a rejection of the contract by the also-beleagured BOE may have been inevitable.

In February, Carroll had requested that the BOE act on his contract renewal early, and the BOE put the contract on its agenda for a vote. Immediate public outcry — which somehow surprised the BOE — led Carroll to withdraw his request before the BOE could act. At that meeting, residents accused the BOE of rushing to act on Carroll’s contract prior to the upcoming school elections. The BOE apparently feared that three new BOE members would interfere with plans to appoint Carroll for another three years. In fact, the arrival of three new members, who began closely scrutinizing BOE actions, squashed more than one BOE initiative as motions started to get tabled.

However, in spite of the public’s remonstrances in February, the BOE took no actions since then to conduct a full public review process of Carroll’s performance. This blew up in the BOE’s face in mid-June amidst continuing complaints that the public was being cut out of important school district policy decisions — like who was going to serve as superintendent.

At the June 13 meeting, members of the public not only demanded rejection of Carroll’s contract renewal; they complained that the BOE itself was guilty of failing to conduct a thorough and transparent process to review Carroll’s performance, and to decide on his contract renewal. (See School board gets an F on superintendent’s contract.) Public comment on the contract was not on the June 13 BOE agenda. Instead, residents packed the CTMS Library specifically to address the superintendent’s contract during the open public comment section of the meeting.

Under pressure from the public, the BOE quickly scheduled an extra meeting for June 20, specifically to accept comments on the superintendent’s contract. Originally slated for the CTMS Library, the June 20 meeting had to quickly be moved to the CTMS auditorium to accommodate more than 100 attendees. Carroll presented a slideshow describing the district’s problems when he arrived, and how he corrected them during his two years on the job. The BOE was criticized for not creating a public forum to review and debate Carroll’s objectives, his performance, his claims, and the public’s perception of his performance.

The public’s criticisms at the June 20 meeting quickly shifted focus from the superintendent to the BOE’s handling of the performance and contract review process. Under the often inscrutable and inept leadership of BOE president Jim Dincuff, the BOE seems to have destroyed any realistic opportunity that Superintendent Kevin Carroll might have had to get his contract renewed.

Before public comment was formally over at the June 20 meeting, Dincuff interrupted comments and launched a public disclosure of negotiations between the BOE and the teachers’ union, prompting a teachers’ representative to ask whether Dincuff was now negotiating in public. Dincuff replied that he was, and proceeded to “disclose” offers the BOE had made to the teachers.

Having violated his own BOE meeting agenda, board president Dincuff threw the meeting into a tailspin with his tirade about teachers’ contract negotiations, ignoring calls for order while he brought the entire meeting to a crashing halt.

Said one resident in a letter to the editor this week:

“Morale in our schools is low, community trust is low, and stakeholders have sent the strongest possible messages to the board that we need and expect change.”

Under Dincuff’s leadership, it seems the old members of the BOE might believe they can now put their heads in the sand, because Carroll won’t be reappointed. But Debate on Carroll’s contract has focused a bright light on the BOE’s own failure to properly manage the district,  and on its lack of transparency. With three new members scrutinizing the old BOE’s behavior, it seems radical change could already be under way.

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