Resident believes new direction needed in Marlboro mayor's office
The old adage is "a new broom sweeps clean," and as a resident of Marlboro for over 20 years that is what I hoped for when Mayor Robert Kleinberg took office. However, things have not gotten better, and I would like to share my concerns with you.

A major component of the mayor's platform was to clean up the corruption from the former mayor's administration. Then why are two key appointments still on board? Why has former Mayor Matthew Scannapieco's chief financial officer Judith Tiernan been promoted by Mayor Kleinberg to be the town's business administrator? Why has former Mayor Scannapieco's Planning Board "mouthpiece," Dennis Collins, been retained as the current Planning Board attorney? Mr. Collins served on the board during the time the mayor claims the corrupted applications were approved that led to overdevelopment.

We have spent over $2 million in legal fees that have led to lost litigation. Should we accept a mayor that has missed filing deadlines that led to failed litigation? Was it wise for the mayor to authorize an appeal and cost taxpayers even more money only to lose again? Who's at fault here?

To supposedly combat the increasing municipal portion of our taxes, the township hired a new CFO who is in town hall one to two days a week and makes over $85K a year. Is this a parttime job making a full-time salary? Are positions like this helping or hurting our tax burden? Why have our taxes increased consistently over the past four years under this administration who cannot even explain many of the increases?

Was it really necessary to spend $1.6 million on an artificial turf field, taking the highest bid so the mayor could say "Look what I did for our children" in time for re-election? Shouldn't the taxpayers have a say in how our money gets spent?

Mayor Kleinberg led us to believe he had no political ambition other than the interests of Marlboro. Then why was he willing to drop his responsibilities to the residents in favor of a bid for Monmouth County freeholder not once, but twice, resulting in his party voting him last out of over 10 candidates for the nomination? Should Marlboro settle for a candidate whose own county party rejected him twice?

It's time for a change because after three years things have not gotten better, taxes are up year after year. We need a mayor who is more interested in fixing what's wrong with this town rather than worrying about his own popularity.

Jerry Tomaselli

member Republican Club

Marlboro