Some inflammatory misinformation was spoken at Monday night’s Borough Council meeting by Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and we’d like to set the record straight, as Council President Renee respectfully corrected during the meeting.
1. Neptune City Fire Department: Freeholder Director Tommy Arnone publicly blamed the Neptune City Council (and by implication, the Democrats) for the dismissal of two volunteer members of the Neptune City Fire Company, due to their low response participation for emergency calls. The accusation is not only untrue, but impossible. The Neptune City Council has nothing to do with the independent decisions of the Neptune City Fire Company, which is a separate, non-profit entity. The Council was made aware of the Fire Company’s decision after their board’s vote took place, and this fact was confirmed during other Council meetings. Freeholder Director Arnone, having previously been the Mayor of Neptune City, knows the fire company is a separate entity, yet he purposefully attempted to deceive the public by insinuating otherwise.
2. False Rumors of “Eminent Domain:” He also implied that a line item in the budget was going towards taking over a privately-owned parcel in town via eminent domain. Council President Renee clarified the County Official’s statement, saying that if he had been present during the Budget Hearing, he would have learned that the $40k was designated toward a “Rehabilitation/Redevelopment Plan” for the WHOLE TOWN, and it does not specify one particular parcel. Eminent domain is NOT an option the Council is seeking.
3. Rehabilitation/Redevelopment Plan and Taxes: In reference to the same budget line item for the Rehabilitation/Redevelopment Plan, it was proclaimed that “Everyone’s taxes in the town WILL go up on July 1st because of this!” Unless he knows something Council and Trenton, who approved the budget, don’t know, this is also misinformation. Neptune City residents’ property taxes are NOT slated to go up; as a matter of fact, the tax levy is flat and some homeowners may even see a decrease. And not a single loan is being taken out for this plan. Councilperson Michelle Lewis, who is incredibly valuable to our town as head of the Administration & Finance Committee (due to her extensive background in finance), would be more than happy to explain this to anyone with questions.
4. Environmental Committee Status: On a separate note, a concerned resident questioned the absence of a list of members of the Environmental Committee on our Borough website and Councilman Wardell assured the resident that the Environmental Committee “meets all the time and has discussions,” etc. Monday, June 24th, was the first time his Special Services Committee met this year (almost 7 months in) and the meeting consisted of just Councilpersons Wardell, Renee and Kocsis. The Special Services Committee is supposed to oversee the Environmental Committee. Unfortunately, Neptune City currently doesn’t have an official Environmental Committee, because when the Council presented names to appoint to this year’s Environmental Committee at the beginning of the year, Mayor Brown refused to allow it on the Agenda, stating, “we don’t need one.” To offset this unfortunate fact, the Council then proceeded to sign our town up to join Sustainable Jersey and appointed a new “Green Team,” which all residents are welcome to join. The borough website is currently in the process of being updated to reflect these new changes.
After the meeting, it was conceded by Freeholder Director Arnone that his misinformed attacks were based on “That’s what I heard,” and not on facts. What took place on Monday is reminiscent of January’s Republican circus of fear-and rumor-mongering of a “Neptune City Government shutdown,” when Mayor Brown, the former Borough Clerk (his wife), and Councilperson Wardell created an imaginary crisis by instilling fear throughout town by telling everyone that bills and paychecks weren’t going to get paid, when there NEVER was any such threat of that happening. Misinformation of this sort does nothing more than cause unnecessary negativity and alarm.
The sole reason for Freeholder Director Arnone’s visit to the Council Meeting on Monday was to create community division by stating false information. If this was not his intent, then he would have picked up the phone prior to the meeting to ask accused Councilmembers if the rumors were accurate (instead of grandstanding in public).
Since January, the Democratic Council Majority has been fighting against non-stop obstructionism, grandstanding, deliberate fear-mongering and orchestrated drama – on the contrary, THE DEMOCRATS ARE HERE TO WORK. This year the Neptune City Democrats hold the Council Majority for the first time in 40 years, and their work has just begun. This year, their votes for the good of residents count. Councilpersons Renee, Kocsis, Lewis and Calhoun signed up to work for Neptune City residents and get things accomplished; they’re who residents voted for and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
Unfortunately, seeds of division are being sown from Republican leadership – we have to work as one unit for the good of Neptune City – we hope that the Republican Governing Officials will change course by putting their personal political agendas and animus aside to do what they were also elected to do – to serve the people of Neptune City.
#Truth #TheseAreTheFacts #WeAreAllNeighbors #YourVoteMatters #CherishThePastEmbraceTheFuture #Positivity #SmartPlanning #Transparency