Monmouth County Police Departments have been given grants to target drunk or impaired drivers this holiday season as part of a statewide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” initiative, warned Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni and Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden.
The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” initiative focuses on mobilizing police departments across the state during the holiday season in an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of drunk and impaired driving through concentrated enforcement activities. The 2012 holiday season “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” initiative resulted in 1,555 Driving While Intoxicated arrests statewide, with 42 of those arrests taking place in Monmouth County, between December 7, 2012 and January 2, 2013.
“The statistics are sobering enough. The holidays are a time to create lasting memories with your family and friends, not destroy family and friends who will be forced to recall the horrific death of a loved one who wasn’t sober and got behind the wheel of a vehicle,” Gramiccioni said.
“No family should have to face the death of another family member during the holiday season, or any time of the year for that matter. The message is clear: ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’, so the ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ initiative should simply resonate with anyone who operates any motor vehicle this holiday season,” said Golden.
For the cost of a dinner or another round, get a ride home. You might be drunker than you think:
If confirmed by the State Senate, Moore will replace Daniel M. Kelly of Little Silver on the board. Kelly resigned last month due to professional commitments.
The Monmouth County Board of Taxation is comprised of four Republicans and three Democrats. Moore is taking a Democratic seat. The party of the incumbent governor holds the majority.
Matthew S. Clark, the Monmouth County Tax Administrator, said that the commissioners have a “broader, taller responsibility” than they have had in years past, as Monmouth is the first county in New Jersey to implement the Assessment Demonstration Program signed into law by Governor Christie in March. The Assessment Demonstration Program is “true property tax reform,” according to Clark, which includes online appeals and creates assessment precision. The online appeals process is a shared service that the Tax Board is offering to other counties to generate revenue and reduce the tax burden on Monmouth County property owners.
The commissioners hear tax appeal cases, certify property tax rates, certify the county’s equalization table, oversee the administration of county tax assessments, and certify the annual added assessments from Monmouth’s municipalities.
Commissioners on the Tax Board earn a salary of $18,000 per year. Clark did not know if new commissioners receive health benefits are part of their compensation. The Governor’s press office as yet to respond to an inquiry regarding health benefits for tax commissioners.
Gaetano’s Restaurant and Market of Red Bank is the latest Monmouth County business to benefit from the Grow Monmouth Facade Improvement Program. The $75,000 program is funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants and administered by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Freeholder Director Tom Arnone presented Gaetano’s owner Tom Cappello a check for $1,824 on Wednesday as reimbursement for lighting fixtures for the restaurant.
Businesses with privately held commercial properties in the municipalities of Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Belmar, Bradley Beach, Colts Neck (Naval station only), Deal, Eatontown, Farmingdale, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Hazlet, Highlands, Howell, Keansburg, Keyport, Lake Como, Manalapan, Matawan, Neptune City, Neptune Twp., Ocean Twp., Red Bank, Shrewsbury Twp., Tinton Falls (naval station only), Union Beach and West Long Branch are eligible to apply for facade improvement grants of up to $1,850.
Asbury Park, Long Branch and Middletown businesses are not eligible for this program because those municipalities receive designated HUD Community Development Block Grants directly.
Last week the Christie Administration announced the approval of $507.7 million in state funds to help fund the cost of 1,538 individual school construction projects in 331 school districts throughout the state. Of the state funding $37.8 million will go to support 171 projects in 26 school districts in Monmouth County, supporting a total of $94.4 million in school construction throughout the county.
Between state and local contributions, the total project costs of the 1,538 eligible projects are estimated to exceed $1.1 billion. The state-funded grants represent at least 40 percent of eligible costs for projects in the Regular Operating Districts and address health and safety issues, student overcrowding and other critical needs. The grants are contingent on local approval of the remaining cost to school districts. Regular Operating District grants are separate from the funding for the 31 “SDA districts,” where the Schools Development Authority is responsible for financing 100 percent of eligible costs.
The Department of Education determines the selection of school projects receiving grant funds, which are administered by the Schools Development Authority. The State Department of Education received applications for more than 2,100 individual school projects.
Howell Councilman Bob Walsh, second from left, and Freeholder Gary Rich, right, are set to compete for a 2014 GOP nomination. Andrew Lucas, left, then a Manalapan Committeeman and Wall Township Committeeman George Newberry, between Walsh and Rich. Photo from 2011 Freeholder nomination race. Photo credit Rhoda Chodosh
Freeholder Lillian Burry: “They (her opponents) should say what they would do better. Their negative attacks make them look like asses. They are asses!”
The By-Laws instituted by Monmouth Republican Chairman John Bennett as the fulfillment of one of his major campaign promises in 2012 will likely result in one of his most ardent supporters, Freeholder Lillian Burry, being challenged at the 2014 Monmouth Republican Nominating Convention in March.
Howell Councilman Bob Walsh said he will seek a nomination for freeholder when the Republican County Committee convenes next spring. Incumbents Burry and Freeholder Gary Rich both said they will seek the nominations for new terms…Burry’s 4th, Rich’s 2nd…and that they are prepared to fight back Walsh’s challenge.
“Tell him to wait his turn,” Burry said of Walsh’s challenge. “I’m running and I support Gary Rich for another term.”
“I’ve heard the name mentioned as a candidate,” Rich said of Walsh, “but I haven’t heard from him. It is interesting that he would challenge an incumbent like Lillian Burry who has such an exemplary record serving the taxpayers of Monmouth County. Lillian and I both work very hard to improve the county.”
“Freeholders are not elected for life,” Walsh, a former Howell mayor elected as an Independent, said, “my record speaks for itself. Lillian and Gary are both vulnerable. The Democrats are looking to take them out are excited about running against them. I am more electable than either of them and I would be a better freeholder than either of them.”
We respect the wishes of the Borough to engage for its day to day management an attorney in whom it has reposed great trust and confidence. Likewise, we respect the attorney who is certain that his integrity would assure an unfettered exercise of judgment in either capacity. Yet we must fashion a rule that will apply equally as well in more demanding circumstances, as in a fast-growing suburban community. It asks too much for an individual to be able to give objective advice to the municipality without being materially limited by the “lawyer’s own interest” as the subject of the inquiry.
For these reasons, we hold that one attorney may not hold both the position of municipal attorney and clerk-administrator for the same municipality. As modified, the advisory opinion of the ACPE is affirmed.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Bennett said he became aware of the Opinion after his appointment as Acting Administrator in Oceanport earlier this month, but that he did not believe it would prevent him from holding both positions on a permanent basis.
William Johnson, right and Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace. Photo credit: Rhoda Chodosh
William Johnson resigned his seat on the Oceanport Borough Council on November 1, due to his recent employment by Monmouth County. Johnson’s resignation was first reported by LittleSilver-Oceanport Patch.
Johnson is the Monmouth County Recycling Coordinator, working out of the County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls. Prior to his employment by the county, Johnson was a loan officer at Colonial American Bank.
Municipal elected officials from Monmouth County towns are banned from employment with the county due to a Resolution proposed by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, then a Freeholder, in 2005. The resolution was passed unanimously by the all Republican Freeholder Board in April of 2005 in the wake of the Operation Bid Rig raid that February wherein numerous county employees and municipal elected officials were arrested on corruption charges.
Employees who held elective office at the time the resolution was passed were grandfathered. County Administrator Teri O’Connor said this morning “there might be a few” employees still grandfathered and holding elected office, but she wasn’t aware of any.
Freeholder Director Tom Arnone said that Johnson applied for the job through a posting on the County’s website, and that the appointment was not a matter of political patronage.
Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholders Serena DiMaso and Tom Arnone at Christie fundraiser, facebook photo
By Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and myself through the many months of what turned out to be a very exciting and sometimes exhausting 2013 political campaign. We are very grateful and extremely blessed to have had so many people come out and volunteer countless hours of their free time to support and join us in our efforts to make certain that the progress that has been made over the last three years continues. As a direct result of the loyal support we received, we were afforded the ability to serve all the residents of Monmouth County for another three years. With that we would like to thank everyone involved because this is something we truly could not have achieved without the involvement from the multitude of residents.
Ultimately, we would like to recognize and thank each and every resident that took time out of their day to vote on November 5th and take part in what truly is the greatest aspect of democracy. For the next three years we promise to continue to represent all 600,000 residents of our great county with the same resolve and dedication they have come to know and expect. Thank you for having the confidence and the faith in what we are doing for the betterment of Monmouth County.
As I said, we will continue our commitment to the businesses and the people who make up Monmouth County, and we will do so with the same energy and enthusiasm that we have demonstrated in the past.
Once again, we applaud your dedication and your support. We are proud and honored to be able to continue to serve the 600,000 residents which comprise all of Monmouth County, and we will strive to ensure that Monmouth County continues to be the greatest county in the State of New Jersey.
Monmouth County Republican Chairman was appointed Acting Administrator of the Borough of Oceanport last week, replacing Phil Huhn, a former Neptune Township administrator, who had been holding the post since June when Kimberly Jungfer resigned as Borough Administrator and Clerk to take the same job in neighboring Little Silver.
Mayor Michael J. Mahon confirmed Bennett’s temporary appointment and declined to comment further.
Bennett, who also serves as the borough’s attorney, said he was in conversations with the governing body to become a full time employee as a attorney and administrator in January.
“It would be a win-win for everybody,” Bennett said, noting that the borough would save money in legal fees if he held both posts. He said he is not seeking pension credits or health benefits in the proposed position.
