Change should not have surprised firm

Congratulations to Chair-man Peter Bellone and the Marlboro Planning Board for replacing Schoor DePalma as the board’s engineering firm. In my opinion, Schoor DePalma is simply a group of well connected lobbyists who also happen to be engineers. If the firm spent as much time looking out for the residents of Marlboro as they did attending political functions, many of the flooding problems the township (and the residents) now face might very well have been avoided.

Skip Cimino, the Schoor DePalma spin doctor, can spout off every award and top 100 list he wants, but there is little question that replacing the firm was the right move.

Unbelievably, Mr. Cimino states that it is unfortunate that “one event” (the flooding and grading problems at the Marlboro Summit which Schoor DePalma recommended full bond release on) was the reason for the Planning Board’s decision. Appar-ently, Chairman Bellone cited the Marlboro Summit as just one example of the problems associated with Schoor DePalma, but I am quite certain that he could have read off a long list of “problematic issues” connected to them.

After the News Transcript published a letter in which I criticized Schoor DePalma (April 28, 2004), I was contacted by many Marlboro residents about their problems with both Schoor DePalma and with the Bill Schultz-run engineering depart-ment. In light of those conversations, it seems that Schoor DePalma should have known there were residents in Marlboro who were unhappy with their performance. For Mr. Cimino to suggest that the Marlboro Summit was the only reason Schoor DePalma was let go is just face saving spin.

Furthermore, Mr. Cimino’s statement that “Marlboro officials never told the firm’s representatives that they were dissatisfied with its performance” is hard to believe, particularly after the Township Council voted unanimously against bond release on the Marlboro Summit development despite Schoor DePalma’s recommendations (something that apparently has not happened in many, many years).

In fact, after Mr. Schultz resigned as township engineer, Mayor Robert Kleinberg stated in an April 14, 2005 News Tran-script article that, “We are investigating all the people who advise Marlboro on engineering issues.” While I am not privy to the particulars, suffice it to say that if Schoor DePalma didn’t see this coming, they are not as politically savvy as I thought they were.

David Jarashow

Marlboro