Pegi Adam: Great Expectations with “For Montclair”

UPDATED with Adam’s views on why she supports Susswein despite their opposition on the elected school board issue of 2009. 

A year ago, I attended a presentation by Courage to Connect, a new statewide group formed to encourage and assist communities in merging as a sustainable way to continue existence while controlling taxes.

The presentation was at Harvey Susswein’s home. He had taken the initiative to invite the group to present to as many residents as cared to hear their ideas–and their ideas were impressive.

As far as I know, this gathering marked the beginning of Harvey’s decision to run for mayor. Since then, he and his slate, For Montclair, have delved extensively into issues our town faces, comparing how our town operates compared to other towns throughout New Jersey and in adjacent states (Penn., N.Y., C.T.).

Harvey has led this group of well qualified candidates, each with a particular expertise, to analyze town practices and operations and develop strategies that can stabilize taxes, reduce our atrocious debt and streamline town operations. Their related experiences and integrity go deep; their ideas make common sense. You can read the various statements in-depth on For Montclair’s site.

Harvey is the only candidate who initially advocated benchmarking our sanitation costs, comparing them with independent companies, then having them put forth competitive proposals. Unlike another slate that, from the beginning advocated outsourcing and now seems to have changed its mind and taken its policy direct from Harvey’s playbook, Harvey has advocated close examination of all the options, only then choosing the best option for town.

He and the For Montclair slate have examined all town operations and put forth detailed, workable plans for change that can be measured and a policy of transparency that allows for any interested resident to track their progress–and you won’t need an OPRA request — the slate has pledged to respond to residents’ queries and concerns without requiring them to file an OPRA!

It’s been years since I was excited about a Township Council slate. I’m excited about the potential of For Montclair. It will work for our town and make our town work! I urge you to vote For Montclair, Line C, May 8.

As a supporter of the For Montclair slate as well as a leader of the elect the board effort, let me explain why I’m now backing Harvey: Following the effort for an elected board, I kept reading about BOE elections in other towns. There was low turnout and hints that the leading candidates had some backing other than town residents. There was nepotism. There was advantage of position taking–recall the recent Elizabeth BOE chair who had her kids on the free or reduced school lunch program, not because she couldn’t afford lunch, but because she was head of the BOE and could do that. There were reports of other corruption.

Given all those negative news reports, I came to think that a selection committee of parents/residents who were involved in the schools, who knew people who were involved and dedicated to making schools better would be better prepared than those who put themselves up for election for reasons townspeople knew nothing about, maybe for the percs. I myself have kids who have gone through Montclair public schools; I’m no longer involved and don’t pay much attention to BOE decisions/positions. Ditto for friends whose kids are now out of the school system. Were we to vote on BOE members, how would we know who is or is not qualified? But we would likely vote, because we felt it our “civic duty to vote in elections.” And we would possibly skew the election to those less qualified but who have name recognition. Interestingly, For Montclair’s First Ward candidate, Bill Hurlock, was initially an “elect the board” supporter, but he too did some later digging and changed his mind.

I was happy to see that our aggressive campaign pressured Mayor Fried into naming a selection committee of knowledgeable people. Now, Harvey has pledged to go one better: opening the nominating committee to interested residents, then having the entire council vote on their selections. I think this assures that we get very knowledgeable people on the BOE and not people who seek office for their own reasons.

Pegi Adam led the effort for an elected school board in 2009, a measure Susswein actively opposed.