It’s been two months since the election and the new administration has been officially sworn in. It has not been easy changing gears from campaign mode to council mode. I didn’t realize how tense things had become until it was over. When it began I figured I would be frank about my thoughts and feelings, talk to as many folks as possible, avoid controversy, and stay the course hoping for the best. I wanted to feel as good about myself on November 3rd as I did before the primary, but it was naive to think it wouldn’t be an emotional tightrope. Every time I caught wind of the whisper campaigns or had to read another ridiculous letter to the editor I was ready to fly off the handle. Fortunately I was surrounded by good people quick to remind me that it would be better to lose. The only thing I would change is the Facebook incident. I wish I had seen the comments before my opponents. If they don’t believe I would have removed them for reasons of compassion they should at least believe I never would have handed them such a plum cherry. I didn’t take personal jabs from people I’ve never even met too seriously, but I don’t appreciate the way my wife was treated and I wouldn’t have played a part in the same of anyone else. Now it’s time to get down to the real work, but how do you work with people who have either been directly adversarial or at least complicit by their silence in what you consider to be dishonest and personal attacks? I don’t know how to do that, but it’s a requirement of the job. We are in the service of our community and not our personal interests. It is time now to put aside the things that might divide us and find the common ground on which to build. We do not have the luxury of anything less.
The first meeting wasn’t so bad, and I hardly think it was as “controversial” as some would like it to appear. I do wish there had been more discussion among council prior to the appointments. I don’t feel that any minds would have been changed, but at least we could have had a better start to the inclusive tone I look forward to in this year’s council. It wasn’t a perfect process but it wasn’t inadequate either and I believe this council has the desire and the willingness to establish better revue procedures for the future. That being said, I don’t understand the confusion over the criteria for reviewing RFP’s? First of all they were the same RFPs as last year. Secondly, a number of them did not even include fee schedules. I wasn’t surprised, I’ve seen plenty of vendors bid this way. They want to sell you on their resume and presentation knowing that price will be debated later based on the lowest bidder. My revue process was simple; rate the applicants based on what I perceive as their ability to meet the needs of the town, research their background on-line, inquire about them with friends I have in their field, and ask the front runners to meet the lowest bid. This worked best in the case of the various engineers who I really expect to be critical in establishing a plan for the commercial revitalization of Point Pleasant. We don’t need to be the next Red Bank or Princeton, but we can be more than a spotty patchwork of stores people stop into on the way to the beach. I know our town has the potential to become a robust destination spot where local merchants flourish.
The most important factor in making these decisions was not mentioned from the dais. Particularly in the matter of Borough Attorney, the most important criteria is trust. The attorney is not a judge. No matter how you slice it they are in a partisan position and the more exacerbated and litigious the work of Legislation and Administration becomes, the more important the attorney becomes as he or she is the constant counsel and guide, particularly in small town with “part-time” governance. Because the Mayor and Council are not full time the two most important and most powerful people in the Borough are the Clerk and the Attorney. It is the Attorney’s job to know the intimate details of the goals and directions of mayor and council. It is the Clerk’s job carry out their direction day to day and interpret their work when establishing the policy and procedures that have the greatest impact on our residents. The Clerk and Attorney are so heavily relied upon it would be impossible to reach our potential without complete trust in them, and as was said, it’s very difficult to trust someone who helped try and defeat you.
This is an important part of the design of our government. A ship cannot sail in a straight line. To tell the truth I am a little envious of the Republicans. There is righteousness in being the opposition party if you choose to be so. Some may just sit back and hurl stones trying to cause controversy and obstruct the majority hoping to make them appear ineffective. Others may truly assume the mantle of advocacy as Councilmember DePaolo stated, but to do so you have to work twice as hard, you have to be diligent and persuasive, and most importantly you have to be right. But this is the way it should be. This is the way democracy works. It may not be perfect, but it’s effective and it is no accident. This is a system crafted by experience and trial and error by people who understood the danger of imbalance. I’ve always thought of democracy like the parachute game kids play at camp or at parties where you all spread out along the edge and you put a ball in the middle. Everyone jerks and pulls and the ball jumps and shoots back and forth but if you watch closely the ball stays mostly in the middle. Start taking kids off of either side and eventually you will lose the ball. I feel like our parachute is fairly well balanced right now and none of us are the type to try and jerk the chute out of anyone else’s hands.
We are all very fortunate to live in Point Pleasant. I have a very hard time trying to think of negatives about our town. It is my sincerest hope for the next year, and beyond, that our governing body becomes a more accurate reflection of our community that in my experience has been a lot quicker to come together than to tear each other down.
