I offered to let Mr. Eustace speak before me at
tonight’s Lodi council meeting but he had to wait for his aide to arrive with a
CAMERA IN HAND before
he could address the meeting. So I asked
the following two questions:
Question 1: At every council meeting I attended, you stated that it was the police chief’s idea to put retired armed guards in the schools and that he developed the plan. You are funding the plan with municipal tax dollars.
The board of education approved to award Mr.
Quatrone a 5577.75 merit bonus for an idea he didn’t think of, a program he
didn’t develop, and cost he didn’t budget for.
Lodi had the 2nd highest effective tax
rate in all of Bergen County in 2012 and saw a significant tax increase this
year. You are now using municipal tax
dollars for school expenses. So please
explain to the people of Lodi why their taxes should go up to pay for these
unearned handouts.
Marc’s Response: Marc stated that the board of education was
the venue for that question. I told him
that would be true a few years ago before the Lodi council began borrowing and
budgeting municipal tax dollars for school expenses. Marc said he was unfamiliar with the merit bonuses and never read them.
Question2: Your September bills show that you paid the
political Florio firm $8176.42 for “Other Expenses”. What were those expenses? Did you abide by the Boxer Checklist when you
awarded this firm a no bid contract?
Luna’s Response: Luna believes they worked on police contracts:
Schrieks’ Response: Lodi council applies the Boxer Checklist to all their legal contracts.
Spiniello’s
Response: They didn’t apply the Boxer Checklist to the Florio no-bid contract
because the Boxer appendix was not out yet at the time. He said they may consider it’s suggestions
for future legal contracts.
I pointed out to them that they checked off last
week on the “Best Practices Questionnaire” that they followed the Boxer
Appendix. They didn’t follow it in
the past and they won’t even commit to following it in the future.
3rd Issue: I objected to the Lodi council using public meetings as a photo op for partisan politicians up for election. I pointed out that I have attended every
regular council meeting for the last year and a half and that Assemblywoman Wagner attended none in that
time. She attended only one meeting I can remember.
She had a picture
taken of herself handing the Lodi council a blown up check right before her last
election. She hasn’t attended a
regular meeting since. I never saw Assemblyman Eustace
at a regular council meeting. He
attended tonight (right before his election) to have a picture taken of himself handing the council an overblown
check. He wouldn’t even speak
until his aid arrived with CAMERA
IN HAND.
I stated that the people pay a lot in taxes so it is always good for THEIR tax dollars to return to
their communities to be spent on good causes. I said it would be great for our two assembly
persons to attend council meetings and board of education meetings throughout their terms so they
can work on issues that can help our children and our community all the time
and not just before an election.
I pointed out that Tony Luna contributed $500 to Mr.
Eustace’s campaign and that the county Democrats recently gave Marc Schrieks a
political county job. As a registered
Independent and independent voter, I would like to see more independence from
our elected officials. They should serve
the people of Lodi instead of either county party- Democrat or Republican.
Mr. Eustace spoke after me and was very defensive
about my constructive criticism. He said
when he was mayor he attended flood meetings without taking pictures of
himself. So maybe he should return to
that practice.
