The Issues

Open & Honest Government

We seek to change the current administration’s practice of holding closed meetings to “review the agenda” before every public meeting. Secrecy undermines public faith in our government, and reviewing the agenda is not an exception to the Open Public Meetings Act. We also disagree with the current administration’s practice of always choosing the Committee Members who are up for re-election to be the mayor and deputy mayor, which is why our opponents have always been mayor or deputy mayor every three years, with a few extra turns when only one Committee Member is up for re-election. We also disagree vehemently with the current administration’s contention that video recordings of meetings must be edited before they are broadcast, and that there is nothing wrong with biased meeting minutes, crafted to omit comments from residents who disagree with them. We also believe that meetings should be audio recorded and the files should be stored electronically. With today’s digital audio technology, we disagree with the current administration’s claim that meetings cannot be recorded because of lack of storage space for cassette tapes.

Eliminate Unnecessary Spending

In these tough economic times, the current administration voted in 2009 to increase the budget when the state and surrounding towns lowered their budgets. We vow to go over the budget with a fine-toothed comb to get rid of waste everywhere we can find it. Also, unlike a current Township Committee Member who gets over $20,000 in medical and dental benefits annually from the taxpayers, we vow not to take medical, dental or pension benefits, even though we both pay for our own health insurance. We do not believe that part-time Committee Members should get full-time benefits. We also will not take the benefits buyout. Committee Members should not need thousands of dollars as an incentive not to take benefits they don’t need.

Environmental Leadership

Environmental issues are near and dear to us, and Doris spent her early career at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the US Environmental Protection Agency. We support the NJ Environmental Federation’s model ordinances on no-idle zones, green cleaning products, and pesticide-free zones where our children play. The three model ordinances were presented to the Township Committee in 2008, but the Township Committee has yet to pass any of them.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Santiago & Lin, 2 Market Yard, Suite 200, Freehold, NJ  07728 (732) 294-7149