Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The township's financial ledger was not updated for about 10 months this year.
Washington Township councilmen and residents questioned the way the town has been run for years during a council meeting Monday. The township is looking for three new employees to replace former CFO, treasurer and finance director Jacqueline Do, who retired at the end of October.The three positions are typically held by different people, with the treasurer acting as a "control function" in the township's form of government, according to township attorney Kenneth Poller. The township's financial ledger was not updated for 10 months prior to Do's retirement, officials said. "Someone has seriously dropped the ball," resident Michael Ullman said. The ledger has been updated by an acting CFO, though the council previously voted against the …
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Washington Township hired a temporary acting CFO to update the town's finances even though the council voted against hiring the candidate at their previous meeting.
Washington Township has a new temporary acting CFO to update the town's financial ledger, even though the council voted against hiring her at their last meeting. "This is the first we're hearing of it," Councilman Fred Goetz said at a council meeting Monday. Mayor Janet Sobkowicz said it was necessary to bring on the acting CFO so that the ledger could be updated in time for the 2013 budget. "We cannot do the budget for the coming year until we have the general ledger done," Sobkowicz said. Former CFO Jacqueline Do retired as of November 1. Councilmen expressed concern about the move because the acting CFO is currently working at some unusual hours due to another job and because only the mayor had interviewed her, though she has previously…
Friday, November 30, 2012
Officials transferred funds in this year's budget to cover the cost of the storm's cleanup. Many other local towns resorted to emergency expenses which will fall under next year's budget.
Washington Township officials are hoping to keep the costs of Hurricane Sandy out of the 2013 budget. "Most of the towns around us had to do emergency spending ... which goes into next year's [budget]," Mayor Janet Sobkowicz said at a council meeting. "We didn't have to do that." The council voted 4-1 at their last meeting to approve a list of transfers totalling $83,050, including $30,000 pulled from the police dispatching line item and moved it to the department of recycling, which collected debris after the storm. Township Administrator Catherine Navarro-Steinel said officials estimated the $30,000 would be enough, but they have until next March to make other transfers if necessary. Officials praised the work of the township's employees…
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The township's former CFO retired and they need to find a replacement to work on the 2013 budget.
The Washington Township Council voted against hiring a part-time acting Chief Financial Officer during their meeting Monday. Former CFO Jacqueline Do retired as of November 1. The township had advertised the position online and in newspapers for about a month, officials said. After a couple interviews, Mayor Janet Sobkowicz recommended a candidate who has worked for the township's tax department and is certified as a CFO, she said. The position would have been part-time and paid $50 per hour, though the recommended candidate would have worked some irregular hours and weekends. Council Vice President Joseph D'Urso said that the candidate's credentials had not been shared with the council prior to Monday's meeting and he would prefer to find…
Friday, August 24, 2012
Washington Township officials said they want to have a revaluation done after 271 residents appealed their property taxes this year.
Property owners appealing their taxes have cost Washington Township more than $687,000 since 2010, not including 65 unresolved appeals from this year. Residents and commercial property owners can appeal the assessed value of their home or business if they believe they are paying for more than it is actually worth. Appeals have been jumped from 105 in 2010 and 117 last year to 271 this year. The amount paid out to appealing property owners has also risen sharply. The township lost about $168,000 in 2010 and $194,000 last year. This year, more than $322,000 has been paid out for county and state appeals so far and 65 more appeals that went to a hearing in July have not yet been resolved. Most of the appeals have been coming from condo …
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The project to re-sod Memorial Field in Washington Township will not be able to be completed before youth football teams begin practicing on the field.
A plan to re-sod Memorial Field may be delayed because the Washington Township Falcons youth football teams will need the field for practice starting next week. The council voted 4-1 to appropriate funds for the project during their meeting Monday. Officials had previously said they wanted to ensure the field was repaired before the start of the season because of netting from old sod which sticks up from its surface. "The field is horrendous," Councilman Glenn Beckmeyer said. Because the work cannot be performed while the field is in use, township officials set a tentative start date of October 29 for the project, which will be after the end of the season if the teams do not make the playoffs. The sod, which is higher quality than used …
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A&P is the only business in the Washington Town Center with a multicolor sign because of an ordinance which only affects the strip mall.
A group of Washington Township business owners seeking to draw more customers are hoping to spruce up their storefronts with eye-catching signs, but a local ordinance mandates most signs must be uniform. According to Ada Gazzillo of Vincent's Trattoria, she and her husband Vincent had planned to write "Trattoria" in red letters after getting permission from the landlord. They later had to take the offending word down because it violated an ordinance limiting all signs in the Washington Town Center to one color. The restaurant is currently just labeled "Vincent's." "I'm frustrated," Gazzillo said. "No one is coming to the strip mall." Businesses are limited by both their landlord and the local ordinance. In the Washington Town Center, …
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Washington Township Council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance to re-sod Memorial Field during their meeting Monday.
The ordinance appropriating $160,000 to re-sod Memorial Field is up for vote at the Washington Township Council's meeting Monday. The plan involves removing old sod, installing new, higher-grade sod and repairing some drainage at the bottom of the hill between the field and Washington School. $152,000 of the money for the project would come from bonds. At the previous council meeting, Mayor Janet Sobkowicz said she believes she can lower the $152,000 in bonds to $55,000 by finding more money in the budget, using a grant and removing the drainage work from the project. Sobkowicz said she would have more concrete numbers by Monday's meeting. Residents and officials have debated the best solution for the field's problems for months since …
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Washington Township Council voted to withdraw a condition of the acting administrator's employment that will make her the business administrator until the end of 2013.
The Washington Township Council unanimously voted in favor of promoting the town's acting administrator to be business administrator during their meeting this week. The council appointed Catherine Navarro-Steinel the township's new acting administrator in January, about three weeks after the term of former acting administrator Lilly Chin ended. Since then, Navarro-Steinel has done "a heck of a job" according to Council Vice President Joseph D'Urso. "Over the last few months [with Navarro-Steinel] here, this town is on the verge of straightening out," D'Urso said. Mayor Janet Sobkowicz said she was not recommending Navarro-Steinel for the position, though she had recommended her for the acting administrator position. According to the New …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The township's former acting administrator alleges she was the victim of discrimination because of her age and race.
Lilly Chin, Washington Township's former acting administrator, has sued the township and Councilman Fred Goetz for discrimination, according to a report on NorthJersey.com. Chin, who is of Chinese ancestry, alleged that council members referred to her by different last names, and that they slandered her qualifications and professionalism, according to the report. Goetz was quoted as saying the suit "has no merit" in the report. Goetz was the president of the township's council last year, when he voted against appointing Chin to keep the acting administrator position. She was originally appointed in 2010 and worked for the township until the end of last year. In March last year, Mayor Janet Sobkowicz predicted the township would "probably …
resident
4:20 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
I mentioned once before regarding setting up an entity to raise money to retain legal counsel. I have investigated the procedures and we ( the residents) would set up a public , non-profit entity to allow residents to contribute on a tax deductible basis. There would be an IRS number and all finacial and tax repoting would be done in accordance with IRS regs. The time has come.. If there is an … more ›