Residents volunteer to help
with quality of life program
Freehold Borough tries
to handle issues brought
on by immigrants
By clare marie celano
Staff Writer

The Freehold Borough Council’s Aug. 19 meeting brought yet another go-around of discussion about overcrowded residential conditions that are continuing to proliferate in the borough.

Council members and residents also took some time to discuss the quality of life issues resulting from this situation.

Council President Michael DiBenedetto said he was "tired of Freehold being the bedroom of the landscapers’ helpers."

The discussion ensued during the public portion of the meeting when resident Al Michenfelder told council members he was tired of seeing day laborers lined up every morning at the 6-12 convenience store on Broad Street.

"It looks like 42nd Street, only instead of hoping to get lucky, they are hoping to get a job," Michenfelder said. "They’re lining up from St. Peter’s Church all the way down to Beacon Metal."

Michenfelder said he believes a law should be created that would penalize landscapers with hefty fines if they continue to hire undocumented workers.

"First give them a bit of a warning," the resident said. "Then slap them with a $600 fine, then a $1,200 fine for the next offense and a $1,600 fine for the next offense."

Michenfelder asked council members to have a law in place that would take care of this issue by September.

"If you don’t, then your heads are all in the sand," he added.

Brinckerhoff Avenue resident Marie Chapman came to the meeting to voice similar concerns.

"There have been reports of people living on Institute Street in cars or in tents," Chapman said. "This is crazy. There must be something that can be done about this situation."

Chapman offered to volunteer to help the borough with code enforcement issues. She also volunteered her friends and said she could get "at least 10 people to help enforce the code enforcement issues."

She offered to research the situation and, in essence, do whatever she could to help borough officials in their quest to correct or at least ease the overcrowding issue that has plagued officials and residents.

"I love my home," Chapman said. "I love my street and I love my town."

Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins responded to Chapman’s concerns by telling her and her husband that the "mayor and council are well aware of the problem and have been working on nothing else for the last six months."

Higgins said there is now a full-time police officer and a new code enforcement official working in the borough. She also said the next council meeting would bring a report that documents the huge number of violations cited in just the last few weeks.

"We may take you up on your offer to volunteer," Higgins told Chapman. She added that the council was working to enact a law that will target absentee landlords. These landlords, according to officials, are contributing to a large percentage of the overcrowding in the town.

"The mayor and council have put forth their strong feelings to protect the quality of life for the residents of this town," Higgins said. "There are just certain things we can do and certain things we cannot do."

Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina told the residents, "We’re trying to do whatever we can do. But to keep (undocumented immigrants) from coming here, this is not something we can do."

Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer suggested to the council that a roster containing the names and addresses of officials be compiled and given out to residents. She said such a list would be a source that residents could use to voice their concerns to people who may actually be able to effect some change in the situation as it relates to the illegal aliens.

"Our hands are tied," Shutzer said. "If we can give residents a list of people to write to, maybe this will help to change things."

Shutzer’s suggestion was widely received and the council members indicated they will be acting on it.

Councilman Kevin Kane told Chapman and the audience there was a legal protocol that had to be followed in the matter of controlling this situation.

"We know what the problem is and we are working now on how to address it. There are many steps that need to be completed in this process," Kane explained. "It all begins with logging complaints and then proceeding to take these complaints to the police, the code enforcement office and the town administrator."

Kane said he felt the "town had never looked better" and that the last six months have seen the creation of a strategic plan to help ease the problem of overcrowding.

He also said the borough needs "positive volunteerism."

"We need people to work with us and with the police department," Kane said.

Councilman Michael Toubin said he was hopeful that writing to representatives in Washington, D.C., would enable municipal officials to be given more power to enforce the laws that are already on the books.

"We are not the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service)," Toubin said. "The illegal population continues to grow. We’ve known this for years. This year, we have made a commitment to increase the manpower that will help us to deal more effectively with the situation."

Toubin said by the time the entire program was implemented, an additional $500,000 a year would be spent for additional police, code enforcement officials and conducting the Quality of Life Court to do whatever is necessary to get a better handle on the situation.

He said it is important to begin accepting the volunteer services of residents who want to be a part of the solution.

"You’re an extra set of hands and an extra set of eyes and ears," Toubin said. "Your offer tonight is greatly appreciated. If we were not to accept your services, we may as well sell our homes and go live somewhere else."

He said the council "needs to grab a handle on this and create our own destiny."

Toubin went so far as to say he thought the government should issue Social Security cards to all undocumented immigrants and begin "collecting taxes from the workers."

Councilman Kevin Coyne said the first thing he did after he was elected to the council was to write letters to representatives from the state and federal governments to inform them of the magnitude of the overcrowding issue in the town.

"There was no response. What we have to do we must do. There are two people out working on the streets right now as we speak," Coyne said, referring to the police officer and code enforcement official who have now been added to the borough’s list of town employees. "They weren’t there four weeks ago."

Coyne also said he felt that people who lived in Freehold cared about their town and that made Freehold unique.

"We have people in this town who don’t just live here, but who live here for the town," he said.