I’m sure Matt is very relieved to have gotten last night’s meeting out of the way. There was the expected, and in my opinion very well-justified, criticism regarding the cAshBritt and Ferreira dealings, but in the end he held up and didn’t make any damaging blunders.
The worst of it is probably over for Matt but I’m still not really satisfied. Yes, when debris is all over people’s property and blocking the roads, and when a third the town is under water, cost concerns can be secondary. But did it have to be the two companies that his wife “markets” that won those cherry contracts? If we had paid premium no-bid prices to companies that had no direct connection to Mr. Doherty nobody would be saying anything. Also, as soon as the water was gone, the streets were passable, and people’s properties were cleared the cAshBritt and Ferreira contracts should have been terminated and the rest of the clean up put out to bid. But these two companies have been retained at premium, no-bid prices right to the bittersweet end. They’re still working for us today at those same prices.
The thing that annoys me is that he and Maggie created this problem. The morning after the storm Matt knew he was going to have to hire companies to clean it up. But he let his wife go out there and get a job that could compromise his ability, or at least his perceived ability, to act objectively and in the best interests of his constituents.
* edited down from my earlier screed
2 Comments
Yep….fully agree. What I found most interesting was the comparison of going to or “this was a war” by Mr. Young…..one of the best ways to win a war is to have superior command and control, and Matt would have you believe he had no…No communication because his phone was out of order and he could not get or send emails. If the heat gets more intense via State or Federal investigations, this hint by him of being “out of the loop” could well lead to someone other than the Mayor finding themselves under the proverbial bus. Actually that might just support the ol’ locker room post of “Winners never quit, and quitters never win”. Meanwhile if FEMA funding comes in even at 90%, we are going to have a pretty big bill left over for the Borough of Belmar to cover. The Mayor is on record promising no tax increase and no beach fee increase. What shell game is being arranged to execute that fantasy?
There will be tax increases. All spending is taxes someday. And who is paying for FEMA anyway?
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