I've been thinking about the recommendation made by Hillsborough Township's Charter Study Commission to change our form of government from the Township Committee form to the Mayor-Council Form. Residents will have a chance to vote yes or no on the proposal eleven weeks from today. Have you made up your mind yet? Before you do, you might want to read the final report of the CSC posted here.
The final report also includes a minority report recommending a "special charter" - a government that would be unique to Hillsborough, and would require action by the New Jersey legislature. The special charter option was never given serious consideration by the CSC, but it is interesting reading nonetheless.
I have more to say on this topic, but I'll wait for you, dear readers, to digest the report.
And if you've already made up your minds, here's another assignment - come up with a charter study related caption to this photo. Don't worry, they're all good sports - they would have to be to take this photo!
CUTE photo! Did you take it? BTW, your photos are AWESOME! Been enjoying them.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the first thing that struck me was who's that guy in red at the end? I forget if red is for Democrats and blue is for Republicans, or is it the other way around? If it is Red = D and Blue = R, then that photo is a clear ID of the committeefolks!
Another caption could have something to do with their running for their prospective positions, all over again. Or on a negative note, running away from their posts if and when change occurs.
As for my decision, I know the NJ.com trolls will not believe this, but my mind is not yet made up. (I know - that sounds familiar) I don't know if I will vote in favor of the change, or not. As I have stated, I favored MCA. I have reservations about MC.
I also felt that a special charter had a slim chance of passing through both houses on a state level in a timely fashion. Plus, Gloria's plan is a sketchy MCA form with less voting definition on the part of the mayor. Not worth putting it out in a special charter IMO - just go with MCA if that's what you want.
But we have to consider MC, not other forms at this point. I really do feel that the majority of residents want to directly elect their mayor, and I too feel this is our right. But I am not completely comfortable with this form for our town, not yet. Maybe not in the near future, at all.
I will have to give this a lot more thought, which I obviously WILL do, before I have a real opinion on what I'll do in November.
Thanks Val for your comments. The photo is from the Township web site, illustrating the wellness campaign - but I couldn't resist poaching it for the blog.
ReplyDeleteI have been resizing photos for the blog to 408 pixels wide - that is the size that is displayed - to save space. You only get so many megabytes free on blogger, and I don't want to run out.
What bugs me about the Mayor-Council discussion is the constant comparison to Bridgewater. Hillsborough is really nothing like Bridgewater - we have no interstates, no commercialized Rt. 22, etc. We are much more like Montgomery than Bridgewater - maybe that's where the comparisons should start.
Looks Like
ReplyDeleteThey are about to place 23rd in a national event!
About the CSC. I truly feel from the beginning (AKA Q3) that certain people have been pushing for a change for the wrong reason, be that just misguided expectations or deeper troubled personal reasons.
I’ve seen way too many Mountains made out of Mole Hills by the forces of change, which indicates to me that even the forces for change know it’s just not really that bad here.
I don’t know, maybe I look at a glass as half full while they see it half empty, but consider the transload issue. The VA depot is clearly a brown field and the only place in town where it makes sense to have the large scale industrial type commercial development we all say we so sorely need to reduce our taxes. That depot has clearly been a drain on Hillsborough's resources and something that we had absolutely no control over or received and benefits from for decades on decades. However, today we do have some control over what is happening in there along with a $300,000 solid revenue stream that cost us virtually NOTHING to obtain. Also, there aren’t and there will never be 1,000 trucks a day running in and out of that depot. Nor does that depot present any special challenge to our fire companies. In fact since they can no longer store hazardous materials there and are now being inspected by our fire officials, I would think it’s actually a better situation for our fire companies. I don’t know about you Greg, but I call that Good Government, NOT reason for change as other do.
The point to good government is too objectively and HONESTY look at a given situation and obtain the best results one can for the town. Development happens and we can’t wave a magic wand and stop that even though many people think you can. We will never move forward, change or no change, if political forces in this town continue to cloud issues with emotional, politically slanted, basically false information in insane attempts to rally the “troops” to their advantage
There are plenty of other Mountains that have been made out of Mole Hills recently, but I think I’ll see how people feel about this one, before I go into any more.
08844 - If you applied the same logic to other inevitable developments in this town, commercial or otherwise, your aguement would have more validity.
ReplyDeleteIE - the sheep farm was not going to remain a sheep farm under any circumstances. It was already sold to Krame, who jumped on the opportunity to sue and trade up from housing to the commercial development he wanted to begin with. Office, residential, or commercial retail - something was going to get built on that land. To keep claiming otherwise is disengenuous.
I hope you are correct about the transload - on the surface, what you say makes some sense, but given the congestion and accident rate along 206, any amount of additional trucking is cause for concern. Reclaiming the land once it became available was necessary - just not sure if that particular use will benefit our town or hurt it in the long run.
Re the MC discussion on BW vs Hboro, I think it just got steered there by the posting of town stats on NJO. I agree - we should anaylyze what is best for our town, perhaps learning from those around us, but really focusing here.