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Message |
    
Dave
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 5, 2001 - 9:48 am: |     |
(thanks to Joancrystal for questions!)
What is your position on regionalization? How if at all do you think this approach could be implemented in Maplewood to reduce the town's overall tax burden? |
Admin
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2001 - 6:52 am: | |
DAVID HUEMER:
I support all of our current regionalization agreements and all of our current plans to increase regionalization. I support maintaining local police, fire and EMS for reasons I list below.
We share schools with South Orange. We share construction inspection services with Millburn and South Orange. We share welfare services with Millburn. Essex County maintains some of our roads and South Mountain Reservation, and Maplewood is a member of the Essex-Union Joint Meeting for sewer service. Therefore, well over 60% of our budget are already regionalized. At the June 5th meeting, the Township Committee approved applying for approximately 450K in grant money through the state's REDI Program, precisely to answer the second part of this question. I'm in favor of those efforts. The largest non-regionalized municipal services in the budget (police, fire, EMS) require, in my opinion, local knowledge and location in order to have the fastest response time. |
Admin
| | Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2001 - 6:55 am: | |
SCOTT KISCH:
Regionalization of what? One of the things I hope you will learn about me is that I don't apply blanket theories and ideology to every situation that comes before me. I look at scenarios individually and make a determination, on balance, of what I believe will be in the best interest of the community.
Nonetheless, this is an area where I would apply a business approach, with a special consideration for safety.
Corporate chairs have an obligation to their shareholders (in government, taxpayers), while at the same time, if they are worthy leaders, have an obligation to the people w/in their organization -- leadership is a two-way street. To address the regionalization issue, I would balance the "mergers & acquisition" strategy (to increase efficiency and "economies of scale") with special considerations for safety and, yes, the human cost of such initiatives. I will always ensure that labor has a voice in any such considerations.
For many, the most obvious prospect for regionalization is Fire services. To start with, I believe that we have yet to learn anything substantial from the regionalization effort in Hudson County.
Locally, I would err on the side of caution and give the firefighting professionals the benefit of the doubt. Rather than ask them to justify their own existence (and local solidarity), I would ask the regionalization advocates to assure me, with 100% certainty, that regionalization would be of little or no detriment to public safety.
In recent years, the school-age population in Maplewood has exploded -- without a visible increase in new-home construction. Maplewood reached a virtual housing saturation point years ago. That leads me to believe that population "density" has increased and, in my mind, we can not afford to take any risks re. response times and our departmentâs ability to be on the scene at a momentâs notice.
However, I DO believe we should look at "pooling" opportunities with neighboring towns for supply and procurement, and outsourcing of functions such as maintenance and administrative services. Some of my friends in the labor movement may bristle at the outsourcing idea but, like I said, I will look at each situation, case-by-case.
If we formed a purchasing "pool," we would have greater leverage in negotiating prices and service with vendors. The "Joint Committee" of Essex/Union does this with water/sewer utilities. |
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