Manalapan officials vote to reinstate liaison posts BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer MANALAPAN - With a 4-1 vote, the Township Committee has reinstated the position of liaison between the governing body and outside agencies such as the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education. The action was taken at the Sept. 27 meeting and supported by Mayor Drew Shapiro and committeemen Joseph Locric-chio, Andrew Lucas and Anthony Gennaro. Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth said she was voting no because she believes the governing body and therefore the township benefit more from presentations to the committee as a whole rather than piecemeal reports coming back from the various boards through an individual liaison. Roth said she believes there is more to be gained from a give-and-take between the members of the governing body and any board or panel from whom they are seeking to monitor or gain information. In putting forth the proposal to reinstate the positions of liaisons that were eliminated last year, Locricchio said while there was merit to Roth's call for full presentations to the Township Committee, Manalapan's elected officials should not limit themselves to just that. In explaining the need for a liaison position to certain boards and bodies, Locric-chio said, "It just guarantees representation by members of the governing body." Although he voted to reinstate the liaison position, Shapiro referred to the recent delayed opening of the Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School as had Locric-chio when he brought up the need to have a liaison with the school board. According to Shapiro, since school district administrators claimed to have had no prior knowledge of the construction problems which caused the two-week delayed opening of MEMS, having a liaison from the committee would not have made a difference or expedited a solution to the problem since the Township Com-mittee members would not have been informed either if they were relying on information given to the liaison from the school board. Shapiro said meetings of public bodies are open to any member of the committee who wants to attend one. He lauded Lucas for taking it upon himself to attend a recent meeting of Manalapan's Recreation Advisory Board. Shapiro said he liked knowing he could "count on Andrew to fill me in." He noted there have been problems in the past due to liaisons giving erroneous information to a board. "Liaison is just a title. It doesn't guarantee the dissemination of information," Shapiro said. Notwithstanding those comments, he voted with the majority to reinstate the liaison positions. Lucas said he believes Manalapan will benefit from appointed liaisons and ad hoc appearances by township officials at various the board meetings that have an impact on municipal business. "If liaisons do their jobs effectively, it could be a good thing," Lucas said.