Committee meetings don’t get much worse than the July 31, 2023 Tabernacle Township meeting.
The Mayor Is Obsessed With Watching The Clock
Throughout the meeting, Mayor Moore was more interested in watching the two-minute countdown clock than listening to what people had to say.
The countdown clock shows the two-minute period for each citizen’s comments. Mayor Moore was Johnny-on-the-spot to thank citizens for their comments as soon as the two minutes expired. “Thank you for your comments” he’d say, then he gaveled people down quickly thereafter.
If only he was as attentive to the public’s business and the citizen’s concerns. Watching a clock and pounding a quick gavel isn’t the same as good government.
The ‘Hartman Rule’ Is a Continuing Embarrassment
TTJ dubbed Committeeman Mark Hartman’s two-minute public comment limit the “Hartman Rule.” At his first meeting as committeeman, seconds after being sworn in, Mr. Hartman made a motion to reduce the one remaining public comment period from three minutes to two minutes. He ‘explained’ that people don’t have anything to say or more to add after two minutes. Four committee members supported the motion. Committeewoman Nancy McGinnis did not.
The Hartman reduction was the second step in throttling public comment. A few years earlier, former Mayor Kim Brown reduced the number of public comment periods rom two to one. Before the Brown cuts, there was public comment period at the beginning of the meeting and a second one at the end. Each public comment period was three minutes long.
The elimination of the second comment period creates two problems. First, when an issue develops during the meeting, the public no longer has an opportunity to comment on it. Instead, people have to wait until the next meeting, which might be a month later.
Second, when the committee cut the second public comment period, it started to introduce a lot of new business during committee reports. Without a second public comment, these actions happened without any public comment. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, which the committee adopts at reorganization, but ignores, new business should be on the agenda. The agenda has a section for new business, it’s usually empty. By sliding new business into committee reports, the committee hides these items from the public until committee members issue their reports.
Committeewoman Kim Brown cut the public comment sections from two to one several years ago. At the time, she promised that the committee wouldn’t conduct public business in reports. She quickly broke that promise and Mayor Moore has followed suit.
To be fair, the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) only requires one public comment period. This is a serious failing of the 1975 law. It should be updated to require two public comment periods. The OPMA, however, doesn’t prevent public bodies from having additional public comment periods, as Tabernacle used to have.
The two-minute Hartman Rule shows the committee’s disfunction at every meeting. Committee members are barely capable of substantively answering questions, responding to public comment or discussing most agenda items.
The problem was never that citizens didn’t have anything to say as Mr. Hartman claimed. The problem is that most committee members don’t have anything to say.
Why don’t committee members have anything to say?
Perhaps, they think that they know everything, so why bother listening to the public?
Maybe they’ve already discussed the items in a private pre-public meeting; in a back-room, of course.
Maybe all of the above.
The Budget Passed Without Any Thought Or Explanation
The committee passed a $5.8 million dollar budget at the July 31, meeting without asking staff for any explanations; without asking any questions; and without explaining what their thinking was.
They let the public speak for two minutes each. CFO Rodney Haines addressed the questions; then the committee voted to approve the budget. It was an empty process that lacked facts and reasons.
Tabernacle adopts a budget every year. The process isn’t new. The committee members, Chief Financial Officer and Administrator should understand how to go about it.
The starting point always involves a review of last year’s budget. For a quick example: how did each department use their budget last year? Did any departments spend more? Did any departments spend less? Were there any surpluses? Why? Are any new new programs or expenses anticipated next year? How much funding will they require? Will the committee discontinue any programs? Does the committee expect revenues to change?
Collecting and presenting this information is a basic part of the administrator’s job. Doug Cramer used to do this every year; Maryalice Brown doesn’t. Yet Tabernacle pays her $132,000 annually.
Instead of starting with a presentation of data, Mayor Moore started with public comment. This left it to the residents to try to flesh out the budget in their two minutes of comment and questions.
Even without any analysis or presentation, citizens were able to ferret out two astonishing facts. First, the budget simply raised last year’s line items by 3%. That’s truly a thoughtless approach.
Second, with a 3% across the board increase, the committee has funded themselves a 3% raise.
The Backroom Budget
1. Who decided to raise every line item 3%?
We don’t know. The committee never discussed it publicly.
Did CFO Rodney Haines think of this himself? Maybe; it seems unlikely. But, we don’t know.
How about Mayor Moore? Committeewoman Kim Brown? Attorney Burns? Administrator-Clerk Maryalice Brown? Friends and families? We don’t know who decided to raise every line item by 3%.
However it happened, it was obviously a backroom decision.
2. How did they decide on 3%?
Three percent wasn’t chosen because it was the right amount. We know that because there wasn’t any analysis about what the right amount should be. Decisions that aren’t based on facts are arbitrary. That’s bad.
Blanket-funding increases are a way to squirrel away money in surplus so they have more money to play with next year. This works by creating surpluses that can be carried over to the next budget.
There’s nothing wrong with spending less than you’ve budgeted and having a surplus in a line item at the end of the year. The problem is that Tabernacle made no effort to determine what they needed in the first place. Every line item was automatically increased by 3%, whether it actually needed the increase or not.
The automatic budget increase leads to an automatic tax increase. Taxes should be set on actual need. They shouldn’t be automatic.
The Budget Was Four Months Late Without Any Explanation
Our budget was due on March 31, 2023, according to the NJ Division of Community Affairs. With the adoption of the budget on July 31, Tabernacle was FOUR months late.
Neither the committee nor Administrator Maryalice Brown was concerned about the lateness. They didn’t talk about it at all. They also weren’t interested in knowing why they were late this year or how they could correct the problem next year.
It’s hard to understand why they were late when the only change was to raise every line item 3%. That hardly takes any work. There’s little to understand, little to discuss and little to think about. It should have been child’s play to do that by March 31, 2023. Unfortunately, not for these kids.
Interestingly, Administrator Maryalice Brown had no trouble meeting the state budget deadline in Woodland Township where she’s also Administrator-Clerk.
Raises For The Committee!?
The blanket increase of 3% for every line item means that the committee members set themselves up for a 3% pay raise. Their pay would increase from $7,000 per year to about $7,210. (TTJ Correction: In previous POSTS, I’ve stated that the committee raised its salary from $5,000 to $7,500. The raise was actually $5,000 to $7,000.)
The committee hasn’t earned the raise they gave themselves last year from $5,000 to $7,000. They don’t ask questions, they rarely discuss business, they don’t respond to questions, they allow township resources to be privately used for free. Wearing the free township polo shirt and pounding a gavel aren’t raise-worthy.
Medford’s committee does far more work, and their salary is still $4,999. They have more meetings; longer meetings; more discussions; longer public comment, they answer questions and they handle a much larger budget.
At the meeting, the public called for the committee to reduce its salary back to $5,000.
Committeeman Noble McNaughton said he wouldn’t support a raise.
Committee Gives Away The Fire Station Parking Lot To Private Contractor
Tabernacle continues to let a private contractor use its fire house parking lot for free. This has been going on for at least four to six months. Neither Administrator Maryalice Brown or any committee member noticed. Finally, at the July 3, 2023 meeting, a private citizen asked how much rent Tabernacle was getting. Answer: ZERO.
At the July 31 meeting the contractor’s trucks completely blocked an area that ordinarily is used for parking. Because it’s a stone lot and the aisles aren’t delineated, figuring out the parking spaces is difficult even without a truck in the middle of the lot. The truck made the parking lot even more disorganized.
At the prior meeting, the committee instructed Attorney Burns to write a demand letter for $1,500 per month for back and future rent; plus the vacation of the property in September so it would be available for a Fire Department event. Mr. Burn’s didn’t report about his letter at the July 31, 2023 meeting.
But Administrator Maryalice Brown did. She reported that the contractor wasn’t working in Tabernacle; but was working in Southampton near the Tabernacle border. Is this a favor to someone in Southampton?
The contractor told Administrator Maryalice Brown that he couldn’t afford $1,500 per month in rent. It’s hard to believe that the contractor didn’t include the costs of a storage yard in his bid. She also reported that Chief Zane would like stone added to the lot when the contractor is done.
It’s already the end of August. The Fire Department needs the area in September and it’s not clear how any of this will work out.
This whole affair has been “mal-administration.” From Chief Zane’s handshake deal to allow free use of the site to the township’s failure to notice the contractor’s equipment, which was obvious. Tabernacle hasn’t shown that it has a routine procedure to handle these issues.
The only positive was Committee member Noble McNaughton’s call for the committee to adopt an ordinance that would spell out the process for renting out township property in the future. That’s a good idea.
Giving Away Patty Bowker Ball Field to a Private Club
I have no problem if the Township lets private ball clubs use our public ballfields as long as the private group pays its own way, local citizens aren’t prevented from using the fields and the club’s use doesn’t bother the neighbors.
But that’s not what’s been happening. Tabernacle has been letting the Pine Barrens Phantoms, a private baseball club, use Patty Bowker field for free.
The Pine Barrens Phantoms is a franchise of the Tri-County Baseball League, which is considered a semi-pro baseball league.
The Phantoms pay for the electricity to light the field. In addition, the township holds a $1,000 deposit to cover any damage that might happen. The deposit is refunded in full at the end of the season. The committee authorized the refund at the July 31, meeting.
Tabernacle doesn’t charge the Phantoms any fees to cover the costs of maintenance, overhead and other costs that are part of a reasonable user fee.
Giving away the public’s resources for free is generally bad government. Tabernacle should charge a reasonable fee for private organizations to use our fields. Private clubs, especially those that charge their members to participate, shouldn’t expect to use public fields for free.
Unfortunately, Tabernacle frequently gives township resources away, especially to groups and people that it favors such as the TAA and TRS. Both organizations emphasize that they are private organizations not subject to public accountability. Yet both organizations have no trouble taking public resources.
That’s not to say that TAA and TRS don’t perform important functions. Nor am I saying that they do a bad job. It’s just to say that if they’re taking township resources, they should be more accountable to the taxpayers.
