'It's Déjà vu all over again'
It's Déjà vu all over again as the R-2 Zone residents of Wantage Township were plunged into turmoil and the unknown with the announcement of “potential litigation” concerning the Lake Neepaulin Dam as one reason the Wantage Committee entered Executive Session at the June 12, 2014 committee meeting.
It will be interesting to see what our new attorney, Glenn Kienz, will be allowed to know about the history of this issue. I’ll bet it’s the Township Administrator bringing him up to speed. Even more interesting will be what the so-called experts, on and off the Committee that actually rule and dominate this Township, allow happen. Wantage operates with the policy of “ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies”. To the new attorney I say this; “Ask me questions and you will get no lies”.
Absolutely nothing should be going on behind closed doors. Enraged R-2 Zone residents have been burned enough with Wantage’s back-door deals with FOLN as far back as 2008. With a revised assessment resolution in place putting a 50 percent payback percentage on them, FOLN has apparently found funds to hire yet another law firm to represent them in their legal battle over the repairs to their privately owned lake and dam. If they have funds for more attorneys, they have funds to pay their bill to the State of New Jersey and leave the rest of us alone.
Back-door dealings started this scheme of assessing people for repairs to private property with the aid of our Township Administrator and thankfully former Township attorney. Both are heavily to blame for what has happened over the last eight years. Sadly, not one Wantage Township Committee member since 2007 can say they had no part in this assault on the R-2 Zone. Clara Nuss asked good questions in 2009, but was pushed back by that thankfully former attorney documented by an interesting email exchange.
Wantage Township needs to end their charade of “doing what is best” and “struggling mightily” and rightfully include R-2 Zone residents, the true victims of this legal battle, as an integral part of any and all dealings. A mountain of information has been handed to Wantage, legal and otherwise, and Wantage has chosen to ignore it. R-2 Zone residents have once again become Wantage “pawns” as we wait with uncertainty for these new back-door dealings to avoid litigation. Mayor DeBoer needs to stop his sarcasm and arrogance at Township meetings. He has been in this since 2007 and should hang his head for what has been done. He signed the final loan papers he was under no legal obligation to sign. We had, and still have, every right to be part of this. FOLN has never had the right to speak for us. Wantage Township has lost all credibility with their lies and the trickery we have endured. No longer should the Committee be speaking for us. We can speak for ourselves and if there is legal action by FOLN I will, as I have publically stated, join the party. No more back-door deals. The Invoice issue is still unresolved.
No municipality should be allowed to take any State Statute, or US Law, and use it as an abusive measure causing harm to any citizen for any self-serving purpose or reason as Wantage has done. Hopefully current and proposed legislation will pass and no municipality in the State of NJ will ever be allowed to enable what Wantage Township has enabled. This should never happen again. There is no reason for any Wantage official to be, as Mr. Bassani stated at the recent Freeholder debate, “proud”. Wantage has failed, and continues to fail, its most vulnerable R-2 Zone residents.
Kathleen Gorman
Wantage Township