2010 Mayor Robert Sherr Reorganization Remarks
I want to welcome everyone to today’s meeting.
Some of you may be aware that this meeting was rescheduled from January 1st and I wanted to take the opportunity to provide insight as to why the meeting was rescheduled. Under the Open Public Meetings Act, it is required that notification be provided to the public through the news media. Although verbal notification had been given to the news media about our reorganization meeting, they did not receive written notification of the meeting in the required 48 hours prior to the meeting. As such, the borough may have been in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Therefore a decision was made to have the initial meeting re-scheduled to conform to the proper advertising requirements. This administration will seek not to do what is easy, but rather what is right.
In a time of economic difficulties, one key issue at hand is how to ensure and maintain fiscal responsibility. This past year has been one of tough economic times that have all of us finding ways to do more with fewer resources.
With families struggling to make ends meet, I want to assure our residents that our municipal services and budget will come under great scrutiny to provide the best possible services with limited resources. All municipalities continue to struggle in dealing with a significant decrease in State aid while attempting to maintain the same level of services.
The 2010 governing body must make some tough decisions in an attempt to deal with large budget deficits, mandated expenses, and scheduled increases in pensions and employee health care costs. Although these defined expenses tie our hands and continue to push costs up, any rise in taxes is a tremendous hardship in these times. We need to be increasingly innovative. Aggressive budget management is an absolute must to provide effective borough services in an era of constrained revenues.
To assist us in addressing this issue, we will be establishing a bipartisan Citizen Budget Review Committee to review our proposed 2010 Municipal Budget and provide feedback to the governing body.
We must review our existing shared service agreements. We need to assure that such agreements are in written format and not based upon verbal promises. Such agreements must be up to date, delineate specifics and be in the best interest of Middlesex Borough. We must also continue to explore other opportunities for shared services. Successful cost sharing between borough departments and across neighboring communities saves money not just for one year, but also on a continual basis building economies of scale into our service structure. If we seize these opportunities, we could shave thousands of dollars off our annual costs.
We are aware that with the economic difficulties, merchants struggle as spending declines, and the erosion of residential and commercial property values affects everyone. Therefore, we must develop a strong business base; a weak commercial structure can lead to a quick demise for any municipality. We need the tax revenues that a strong commercial base creates, which can relieve the heavy tax burden borne by our residents. I believe that the right vision can bring development; thus, enhancing our community with businesses and services that people really want, while preserving the borough’s character. To this end, we will be appointing an Economic Revitalization Committee to help us attract new businesses and encourage existing businesses to expand.
We need to creatively and visibly market the borough throughout the region as a desirable location. With vision, leadership, and genuine cooperation, our business community could play a major constructive role and advance its own interests.
A prerequisite for revitalizing our commercial base is to make borough services a model of responsive efficiency. We must streamline the process for potential new business owners to get permits, inspections, and advice when they are setting up shop, renovating or expanding. The better we serve business owners, the quicker they will be to invest in Middlesex, and the more cooperative they will be with the borough in addressing common challenges.
We must speed the resolution of property maintenance problems and introduce satisfaction surveys. The establishment of the Economic Revitalization Committee will help us develop clear goals and performance benchmarks for initiatives. Thus, the committee will be integral in reinvigorating Middlesex Borough.
We will also review our existing ordinances, regulations, and fees to make sure they are effective and meet our current needs. As part of this review it is imperative that we work with the borough Planning Board to update our Master Plan and address the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations.
Let’s recognize that the current hardships we face create opportunities for us to take the right steps that could propel us into a new age of prosperity, if we have the foresight and political will to do it. We must capitalize on our strengths and address the important issues facing us. We must resist wasting our time and energy on petty and trivial matters.
Our greatest risk is that we cannot or will not step up to the challenges facing us.
I want to take this opportunity to recognize the Administrative and Finance staff, Police Department, Public Works Department, Construction Department, Regional Board of Health and all of our borough employees for their continued efforts in serving our residents.
I also would like to extend my thanks to the members of our Volunteer Fire Department, Rescue Squad and Office of Emergency Management for their dedication and the countless hours of their personal time they have spent in service to the Borough.
I also especially want to thank the many volunteers who serve on our borough’s boards and committees and contribute their time and energy in making Middlesex a better place to live. Your ideas and efforts in so many volunteer capacities are remarkable and much appreciated.
I also pledge to do my best to rise to the occasion as we try to navigate through these tough and difficult times. We will have setbacks, but we must learn from our mistakes and keep our focus on the big decisions that will set us on a positive path for the future.
To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith”.
In closing, may 2010 bring all of us health, happiness, and prosperity. Happy New Year. Thank you.
