Englishtown residents want own police dept.
Officials say meeting with Manalapan sought details
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO & MARK ROSMAN
Staff Writers

A large turnout of residents attended the Englishtown Borough Council’s May 25 meeting to ask officials for answers about rumors that the Englishtown Police Department might be eliminated.

Their interest was sparked by a May 25 News Transcript article in which Englishtown residents Jayne Carr and Joyce Stipple questioned the borough’s future plans for the police department. Carr and Stipple said they were responding to reports they had heard about a meeting that involved Englishtown elected officials, Manalapan elected officials and an outside consultant who met to discuss the possibility of Manalapan police assuming responsibility for protecting Englishtown.

At separate meetings on the night of May 25, officials in Manalapan and Englishtown acknowledged that they had, in fact, met recently to discuss the issue.

In Englishtown, Mayor Thomas Reynolds and Councilman Harry Soden said they had met with Manalapan elected officials to discuss the police matter and other ways in which the two towns might share services. In response to a question asked by a reporter from a daily newspaper during the public comment session of the meeting, Reynolds and Soden declined to name the elected Manalapan officials with whom they met.

Just up Route 522 at the Manalapan municipal building, Manalapan Township Committeeman Andrew Lucas said he was at the meeting and said, “I believe Committeeman [Joseph] Locricchio was there.”

The meeting was initiated by Englishtown officials, according to Reynolds, who said the goal of the get-together was to see if sharing services would be cost-effective and beneficial to Englishtown.

Many residents in attendance at the May 25 Borough Council meeting made it clear they want officials to keep the eight-man Englishtown police force, although several residents praised the idea of sharing services for things such as garbage disposal.

Reynolds said he is trying to find a balance between services and property taxes.

Paula Kuchinsk asked the mayor if he remembered the referendum in 2000 that asked residents if they would vote on a budget increase to expand the police department’s hours to a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation. Voters said yes to that plan by a 2-to-1 margin.

“Did you hear your taxpayers speak to you?” Kuchinsk asked. “And what about all the money that has gone into the police department all these years? What about what we’ve spent to get our police department to where it is now?”

Kuchinsk said any time the police contract comes up for renewal, questions arise as to the department’s necessity in the town. The police officers’ present contract is due to expire Dec. 31.

Kathleen Bien, who owns Empire Designs in the borough, said she has no problem sharing services that have already been outsourced.

“Don’t dissolve service organizations like the police force that the town spent years developing,” she said. “They watch my property. They know me. They check strange things in the neighborhood.”

Arlene Humphries said the Englishtown police officers make her feel safe, especially when she walks at night.

“My grandkids love the police officers,” she said.

Robert Barbiero said he and his wife do not have children, but noted that he pays a large amount of money for school taxes.

“The police force affects us though and we think they are great guys and do their job,” he said. “Take this issue off the table. We are not interested in shared services at that level. Try other avenues to cut dollars.”

Police officers from other areas came to support the Englishtown force.

“I know you guys are taking a beating up here with people raising these concerns,” said Martin Conte, a police officer from South Brunswick.

Conte is the president of PBA Local 166 which represents the Englishtown officers.

Conte said many communities “pride themselves on their police department. I can assure you that you will no longer be a police department. You will become a district. That’s all you’ll be. You’ll lose the personal touch and that small-town atmosphere. That’s what happens when towns try to take over other departments.”

The debate continued for more than two hours as municipal officials defended their position of trying to acquire facts about the police situation and residents demanded that the department be retained.

“Why waste time and money on something we don’t want?” one resident said. “What is the price of safety anyhow? There will be no personalization if we have a police department from another town.”

Borough Attorney John O. Bennett III said that unless the facts led to a “win-win” situation for both municipalities, it would not happen.

One resident asked that consideration be given to placing the Englishtown officers on the Manalapan force if the borough’s department is dissolved.

Reynolds said that would be a possibility, but one he might not have any control over.

“If this meeting was for the good of both towns, then why the secrecy?” Carr asked. “You decided to do this in executive session. If it was for our good then why not discuss it in public? This secrecy caused the rumors. If it’s good for us, then put it on the table.”

Meanwhile, in Manalapan, resident Rhoda Chodosh addressed the Township Committee and said, “There was an article in the News Transcript about the merging of Manalapan and Englishtown possibly or Manalapan taking over the police department in Englishtown. Is it rumor or is there a possibility or what. I’d like to know who met” with the Englishtown officials.

Lucas responded, saying, “Ms. Chodosh, I was directly misquoted by the newspaper reporter. I was in attendance. I spoke with her for about 45 minutes and I honestly don’t know how that quote came out the way it did. I did meet with them. Joe and I ran [that] as a campaign issue for shared services. I thought that it did make sense to reach out to Englishtown and see the possibility of shared services which could benefit both taxpayers,” Lucas said.

Resident Cynthia Maurino said the News Transcript article stated that the full Manalapan committee was unaware of the meeting. She asked Lucas if that was true.

“I don’t think that’s completely true, Ms. Maurino,” Lucas said. “I did indicate to Mayor [Bill] Scherer about a month ago that I had an interest in exploring shared services. It was not like it was a secret meeting. It was nothing more than finding out some facts and it’s very possible by entering into shared services we could be saving the taxpayers of Manalapan over $20,000. We could be adding four or five policemen to the rolls.”

Maurino asked if the other members of the committee were informed about the meeting.

“We weren’t ready to issue a report on that at this point,” Lucas said.

“It was just an informal get together with the people in Englishtown. It was just general ... ” Maurino said.

“Just so that you’re aware, this is a township form of government,” Lucas said. “Each of us have meetings. It would kind of be ridiculous to say that I want a full report on every single meeting with every single person [a committee member] spoke to on that day. I think when you find it or move it about the facts contained in what we discussed there to see if it’s even ... or even worth presenting to the committee members. We would be more than happy to do that, but at this point we don’t even know if this would be a feasible option.”

“Any committee member has the right to explore any issues that they want and address issues concerning them,” Scherer said. “The only problems come up when there are professionals at the meeting. Then you’re saying anybody who spends the town’s money without having approval is ... If you’re interested in pursuing that. I didn’t think it was good enough for Manalapan ... If we’re going to be helping Englishtown out then I thought we should get more back for it. I didn’t know about the meeting until afterward.”

“For the record, I know there were no Manalapan professionals there,” Locricchio said. “There wasn’t any Manalapan taxpayer money spent.”

“When something like that comes out in the newspaper and the rest of the governing body is not aware, especially the mayor, it’s a bit uncomfortable I think,” Maurino said. “You have a public perception. You want people to know what you do, especially your associates who sit up on the governing committee.”

News Transcript staff writer Dave Benjamin contributed to this story.