Panel differs on payment for seminar registration
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - Municipal financial support for out-of-state attendance at a seminar by volunteers was a topic of discussion at the Feb. 27 meeting of the Township Committee.

Committee members discussed a request by four volunteers from the Manalapan Health Department for the municipality to underwrite $500 for each of them for the costs associated with their attendance at a safety seminar to be held in Wisconsin in July.

Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen is the committee's liaison to the health department. She noted that in years past the township has paid all of the travel expenses for volunteers who attended out-oftown seminars that pertained to their particular area of endeavor.

Township Administrator Tara Lovrich said Manalapan has not been underwriting the costs for national conferences in at least the past four years for municipal employees or volunteers.

Mayor Michelle Roth asked if the health department had sought a grant to cover the expenses.

Cohen said the department had not sought such a grant.

When it came time to take a straw poll of the committee members' thinking in the matter, Cohen said she was sure the volunteers would be satisfied with the township assuming only the $250 registration fee per volunteer, for a total cost to Manalapan of $1,000, rather than the total cost of $2,000 which was what was initially being proposed.

"Since the volunteers seem really persistent about this, they really want to attend and are willing to give up their vacation time and they feel it's going to enhance them, as does (health officer) Dave Richardson. I would vote yes to give them the $250," Cohen said.

"I agree," was CommitteemanAnthony Gennaro's response to Cohen's statement.

Committeemen Andrew Lucas and Richard Klauber, along with Roth, disagreed with Cohen and Gennaro. They all said the matter did not need to be decided right away since the seminar is not until July.

"I think this should be part of the budget process," Klauber said. Roth and Lucas agreed with him.

Roth said since the plan is to "move the budget process quickly along," she felt that waiting until the budget was drafted before making any decision was the prudent way to proceed. Speaking with a reporter after the meeting, Klauber said he would like to look at alternatives to travel for Manalapan's volunteers and employees that will achieve the same educational results a seminar might provide.

Klauber said he believes the governing body is in agreement on wanting all municipal volunteers and employees to stay current in their particular expertise or discipline. However, he said he believes it can be done withoutManalapan having to spend extra money at a time when budget strings need to remain tight.

Roth said, "We made serious cuts to the budget last year and our employees are severely restricted as to what seminars they attend. As of this date, they do not attend any out-of-state."

Klauber, also speaking after the meeting, said he could not see himself approving any out-of-state travel for almost any reason and even when it came to in-state training he said money should not be spent without first exploring the possibility of the same training being available on the Internet or through the purchase of a DVD.

In other business, Roth announced that a foundation has promised to provide educational opportunities for at least one Manalapan student whose family meets guidelines that establish a financial hardship.

According to Roth, the Peter J. Sharp Foundation has committed to underwriting the cost of attendance for at least one Manalapan student as part of its Seeds program, which underwrites the costs associated with a student attending selected summer courses at private prep schools.

Roth said she was at a recent function when she managed to elicit the promise from one of the foundation's principals who informed her the foundation was going to be looking at student applicants statewide.

She said any student who wishes to be consideredfortheawardmust haveaB average or better. Interested individuals should contact the office of the township administrator prior to theMarch 15 deadline.

Finally, Lucas thanked Manalapan's new township attorney Kevin Kennedy for not charging transition costs for the time he worked to acquaint himself with Manalapan's legal matters. Kennedy was appointed township attorney in January.