THE
HUNTERDON COUNTY NEWS |
TITLE: MELICK EMBARRASSES FREEHOLDER BOARD WITH "GUT FEELING"
DESCRIPTION:
Time: 20:43:43
HUNTERDON COUNTY - It was one of the low moments for the Freeholder Boards 2008 campaign as Freeholder George Melick ripped into Health Department Director John Beckley in front of a packed house for over 30 minutes on what Melick referred to as a gut feeling.
With frustrated Kingwood residents packing the usually sparsely attended freeholder meeting Melick called into question the efficiency of the health department.
At issue was an updating of fees for such things as potable well program fees, geothermal well program fees, individual subsurface septic disposal etc… The fees that go to the county on these type things were not updated for 6 years and this was simply a means to put them back into proper economic circumstances reflecting inflations etc… there is a routine formula that is conducted to make sure that other taxpayers are not paying for the benefit of the few. In fact within this formula there were 11 fee adjustments, and three of the fee levels actually went down.
It was a routine ordinance. A public hearing was held and no one murmured. All of a sudden Melick awoke and started harassing poor Beckley in front of the crowd. For those of you who don't know Beckley runs on of the finest operations, not only in NJ but also across the country. When programs are slated to be done for the first time somewhere people come to Hunterdon to see how John would do things, and for that matter you should rest assured that if we ever have a large-scale emergency we are well prepared due to his efforts. Melick stated that he thought the office was being run inefficiently, and when Beckley asked him why he thought this Melick proudly retorted, "I've just got a gut feeling, do you know where that is?" To question a man of dignity like Beckley, in front of others on a "Gut Feeling" was embarrassing and wrong.
Then Freeholder Director Peterson got in on the act asking for this and that and comparisons with the other departments in NJ, and he wanted it all within two weeks of the week that happened to be Labor Day - Merry Xmas.
Finally Freeholder Holt, who was breathing a bit of fire from the nostrils and Freeholder Mennen put a bit of sense into the equation and asked Beckley if they could simply see some numbers of neighboring counties to see if the new fees were in line with others.
And angry Peterson snapped that he would "Get the information on his own." We shall see if he has it all compiled by the September second meeting, "On his own"
And it was obviously a bad time to put this act on as the large contingency present whispered among themselves, "How did these AS*^&%^$ ever get elected.