First of all I want to thank everybody for coming here tonight and joining us for what I believe will be the start of a new direction for Long Hill Township. I’m looking forward to the challenges we face this year and I welcome the opportunity to serve as Mayor.

First of all, I want to specifically mention and welcome some of our elected representatives that are here tonight. I already noticed that our Senator Tom Kean is here, State Assemblyman John Bramnick is here, and Freeholders Doug Cabana, Margaret Nordstrom and Bill Chegwidden. If I missed anybody I apologize. So give these people a round of applause (inaudible). Thank you for coming.

There’s, I also like to welcome a few of the former mayors and township committee members that I’ve seen in the audience, I know former mayor Lynne Combs is here, former mayor Suzanne Dapkins is here, former mayor Walter Sadowski is here, former mayor Bill Smullen, township committee member George Falzarano and if I missed anybody again I apologize. So please, yeah I said Lynne Combs, I got. Thank you. So welcome and (inaudible from audience). Who’s out there? Raise your hand. If I missed somebody. (audience: Pete Stager). Pete Stager, I’m sorry. How could I miss Pete. Yeah, I would like to thank all of these public servants for their dedication and service. I know it’s a difficult job and I think they all deserve a round of applause. You already applauded, so you don’t need to applaud.

As a showing of our appreciation, I welcome also new members Jerry Aroneo and Mead Briggs. I know that they will jump right into the process head first and speak their minds. I know that they are the type to do so. We are here to discuss ideas openly and to decide on the most prudent and practical means to proceed in the best interest of our Township and I hope and believe that every member of the Township Committee will dedicate themselves to that goal this year.

I know that the Committee will also join in inviting residents of the Township to participate in that process. Long Hill could not function without our volunteers so we need to honor them and encourage more volunteerism and participation. We will set in motion some new ideas designed to involve our community further and take advantage of those with the willingness, the skills and the knowledge to make our deliberative process a lot more successful. Getting more people involved is important for another reason and that’s obvious because here we are; the Township Committee is relatively new and I’m sure we could use the help.

In just two years, the voters of this Township have changed every face on this committee. And I’m highlighting this point because I think that this change is a mandate. A mandate from the township residents to proceed in a new direction. And it is clear to me that the voters wanted to introduce fiscal discipline, get our taxes under control, open up the government and change the way we do business. We have no choice on the Township Committee but to make these our primary goals for this year and the coming years.

With respect to our taxes and the budget, I think we need to bring a little bit more common sense and business savvy into the process. I shall encourage the Committee, our Town Administrator, and the Department Heads, to bring the budget in line with our needs and our ability to pay. In these times when we face high taxes from the State and Federal Governments, it is crucial that we in local government do not also dump on our taxpayers by spending more than we need. I have heard too many stories about residents, especially seniors and hardworking families, having to leave our magnificent town because they could no longer afford to live here. And we need to do whatever is within our power to reverse that trend. Simply put, in order to preserve our wonderful community and its residents, Long Hill Township has to remain an affordable place to live. In order to achieve this goal, we need to go back to the drawing board and get back to basics.

One of the things I’d like to do is have our Department Heads adopt a zero based budget. They need to look at their budgets, line by line, and come up with the justification for every Township program and for the corresponding spending. And the test should be that every penny has to be spent wisely and efficiently.

And to that end, we will be creating a new ad-hoc committee to review our budget and the expenses of each department. We will call it the Financial Responsibility Advisory Committee or FRAC for short.

The FRAC committee will be a blue ribbon committee made up of local residents and include former mayors, town administrators, professional managers, and accountants. And the committee will review in detail the expenses of the town and advise the Township Committee on areas where we can reorganize or make reductions. The goal is to bring our costs in line with the community’s needs and ability to pay. We will charge this committee with the duty to assist us in finding the most prudent and economic means by which we can keep tax rates flat this year and stable for the foreseeable future.

We will also be appointing new auditors and a new Chief Financial Officer. They will be a fresh set of eyes looking clearly at our budgeting and accounting practices to determine where we can improve and help ferret out waste and mismanagement. And it will not be easy and we will have, I sure, many tough decisions, but after years of double digit tax increases, on average, I think taxpayers have had enough. And I promise that but for unforeseen circumstances, we will pass our budget on time. I will ask the Committee to schedule extra Special Meetings in January and February until we get the job done. And other towns do it and there is no reason why we can’t.

Our second primary goal will be to change the way we do business in this Township. We need to interact better and more thoroughly with the residents of our community. To that end, we will create a new Communications Advisory Committee which will be charged with oversight of a new interactive website and developing our public access TV channel. The new interactive website will permit residents to make payments, submit paperwork and receive documents from the Township online. And the ability to interact with the Township via the internet will save the residents a trip to town hall and will save the administration precious time in dealing with these routine issues. It will be a more efficient system.

The Communications Advisory Committee will also be charged with developing our public access TV channel through which we can broadcast more of our official meetings and important announcements. The public access channel can also serve to provide a community bulletin board and a school news and information system. It can be used to cover local community groups, sporting events, and other public and educational activities. And I will propose that we do this through volunteer efforts working closely with our business community.

There are also several other issues which, on which we will need to work this year, and which will involve expert volunteers from our community. One area is the sewer moratorium. And I will be appointing four residents who are experts in the field to the ad-hoc Sewer Ban Committee. This committee will be task oriented and will be charged with promptly recommending the solutions to our problems. And I think we have studied this issue way, for too many years, and I think it’s about time we find the permanent solutions and implement them.

Another area we need to work on is the future of the Valley Road business corridor. We will be working with the Planning Board and other experts to improve all of our business districts and to encourage the appropriate business development in order to improve the look of these areas as well as to generate new tax revenues. We will also complete the Stirling Revitalization Plan which has staggered on for too long, as well as work with the State and Army Corps of Engineers to resolve any remaining issues related to the Stirling Floodwall Project.

The goals that I have outlined are not fixed in stone, but it is clear to me, that this is an interactive process which has to involve every member of the Township Committee as well as the residents. Put another way, I need help from everybody up here on the dais, as well as all of you out there in the audience to get anything done (inaudible). And I know that there’s only one reason all of us are here tonight, as volunteers or observers, and that is because we have the best interest of Long Hill Township at heart. Together I think we can make a difference and make Long Hill Township a better place for everyone and I look forward to the challenges ahead and I’m very excited about getting going, so let’s get right to the meeting.