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Hammonton Blog -> Hammonton Democrats Blog -> Town Council approves bids for Senior Center. All inclusive $5.9 promise officially broken
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Town Council approves bids for Senior Center. All inclusive $5.9 promise officially broken
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Hammonton Council approves $798,500 senior center contract


(Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2008)

HAMMONTON - The planned senior center at Hammonton Lake will be built, but the project could require about five times more municipal-tax revenue than in its original budget.

The Town Council voted unanimously, if reluctantly, to award a $798,500 construction contract at Monday night's meeting. No contractor proposed doing the job for anything resembling the town's $480,000 allocation - $400,000 from a state grant and $80,000 from the town's 2008 budget.

Officials will draw the difference from a two-year-old fund intended to cover the improvement and expansion of downtown parking. The fund originates from municipal-tax revenue in 2006, and it currently holds $466,241, town accountant Frank Zuber said Monday night.

The minority Republicans criticized the Hammonton First majority's push to use unrelated funds for the project after taxpayers were told grants would cover most of the cost. Councilman James Bertino called it disingenuous.

Mayor John DiDonato said the town has applied for supplemental grants that could replace the use of the parking-lot money.

The lowest of five construction bids in October was $765,400 from Ron Sirolli Construction, and because it lacked information about subcontractors it was discarded.

The administration had hoped a fresh round of bidding Nov. 19 would elicit more and cheaper proposals from contractors, but the opposite happened. Four contractors checked in, the cheapest being a $798,500 bid from J. Porretta Builders, which beat Sirolli by $7,200.

DiDonato was not able Monday night to recall for Bertino which additional grants are being sought, but he promised to give members a list of them by the next meeting Dec. 22.

Besides, the mayor said, some downtown business owners have not agreed to relinquish parcels needed for parking expansion, so with no prospect of turning that around soon, the town might as well use the money it has. Solicitor Brian Howell said council members have told him not to consider using eminent-domain law to seize the needed land.

The contract's approval was a foregone conclusion - for the current majority to splinter is all but unheard of - but Republicans were determined to say their piece. Bertino's colleagues Anthony Marino and Jerry Vitalo were participating in their penultimate meeting, having lost re-election bids three weeks ago.

Vitalo suggested downsizing the plans to fit the budget and extending the use of the Bellevue Avenue senior center, which Vitalo said many prefer. Councilman Jerry Barberio disagreed, saying access to the current center is a safety concern and dozens of seniors have applauded the new plans.

E-mail Eric Scott Campbell:

ECampbell@pressofac.com

The Community Center was to be included in the $5.9 million promise made by Hammonton First.
Broken Promise Ad

Lake Sr Center



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Anonymous

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Hey Mr. Last Place, why do you keep trying to push the same nonsense?  How many elections do you need to come in dead last before you realize that people don't forget you are one of the guys who raised our taxes like crazy when you were on the school board?  Now how about telling us why we need to borrow another $14 million there to put our kids into debt further?

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Anonymous

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How about those police cars, thank you Councilman Barberio for standing up against the police chief.  You will make a great mayor next year.



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Anonymous

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The police chief certainly did complain a lot about the fire department, didn't he? I wonder what the firemen thought.

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Anonymous wrote:

Hey Mr. Last Place, why do you keep trying to push the same nonsense?  How many elections do you need to come in dead last before you realize that people don't forget you are one of the guys who raised our taxes like crazy when you were on the school board?  Now how about telling us why we need to borrow another $14 million there to put our kids into debt further?


What does that have to do with the topic?
Weren't we promised everything at $5.9 million?



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Anonymous

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Barberio as mayor? please tell me you are joking.  I can't stand that New York wiseguy accent or the way he talks down to people. Who let him in and why?

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Voice of the People


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Jim,
Last place or not, you spoke the truth and continue to do so. The articel is self-explanatory but I am amazed that the attacks against you came so quickly. You must have hit the mark pretty closely.

I cannot believe the country is in crisis and the Council decides to spend almost $1million dollars on a luxury senior center.

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Anonymous

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The firemen probably don't think anything, their laughing all the way to the bank on their 400k one bid fire truck.

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Anonymous

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It seems the Firsters and the GOP have a new motto:

Spend, baby, spend!

Too bad we're the ones that will foot the bill.



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Anonymous

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It has been their motto all along they just hid it well; robbed Pete to pay Paul.    You big dummies voted for them.   We shouldn't be builidng a Senior Center period.   We've lived without one this long.     Stop building and spending money stupidly.    Use the money to settle you lawsuits and fairly pay the Chief for his years of service and money he has earned.    You are a bunch of cold hearted jerks and you voted for them dummies.

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Anonymous

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Hey take it easy Betty. I agree with you the senior center should be postponed during these tough budgets but the government workers are all paid very well with the state unemployment rate soaring.

Here is my idea: Postpone the senior center and start a wage freeze for the next three years. The result would be lower taxes for all the taxpayers that pay the bill. Can we agree with this sound fiscal conservative position?

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Anonymous

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Everyone employeed with the town is represented by a union and the contracts have already been signed.   Stop spending money on buildings we don't need.     No I don't feel we need a new fire truck nor do I think we need new police cars immediately this year.   If there is a grant to pay for them fine but if not no new police cars either.    

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Anonymous

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What does everyone thing of the upcoming $13.6 million school bond vote? That will be the second largest project in town history. The largest project was the bond for the new high school.

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Anonymous

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It's needed so our children know better when they grow up to ever act like Hammonton First Supporters.



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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:

What does everyone thing of the upcoming $13.6 million school bond vote? That will be the second largest project in town history. The largest project was the bond for the new high school.


That may not be true. By the time we get all the numbers for the Town Hall, it may be the second largest project.
-the building itself
-site work
-landscaping
-new telephone poles
-office furniture
-reconstruction of Second and Vine streets
-moving the historic town hall
-demolition of the old town hall
-senior center st the lake
-paving, concrete, landscaping of corner parking lot across the street
-removal of underground storage tank
-removal and replacement of radio antenna
-etc.



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Anonymous

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Sorry but I have to say no to the seniors.  That is not a necessary expense as far as I am concerned.  However, I feel that you can never go wrong backing education.  The benefits far outweigh the expense, especially if you have children in school today.  Why should we send our kids to a school that is in such poor shape? Other towns are taxed out the ying yang but they don't mind paying in order to have high quality schools for their kids. y79hr Personally, I am more than a little ashamed to learn the poor quality of the school and wonder why no one has said anything before now.

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Anonymous

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Not a nice way to treat the GREATEST GENERATION but I am sure the senior citizens have dealt with adversity in their lifetime. The schools they went to were lucky to have heat in them.

I don't know how our senior citizens were able to overcome so much without having the state take care of everything for them.

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Voice of the People


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Actually. most of the seniors in our Town are now Boomers not WWII-generation.

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Anonymous

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if we do not build the centor now we will lose a 400k grant.  if we wait unitl better times it will cost a lot more.   however the fire truck and the cop cars can wait.  also no new employees and a freeze on wages.  and by the way the cop cars are 7 years old and the fire truck was how old?   

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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:

if we do not build the centor now we will lose a 400k grant.  if we wait unitl better times it will cost a lot more.   however the fire truck and the cop cars can wait.  also no new employees and a freeze on wages.  and by the way the cop cars are 7 years old and the fire truck was how old?   


If we do not buy the fire truck and cop cars now we will lose the grants. If we wait until better times it will cost a lot more. However, the center (spelled correctly) can wait. The seniors can continue to utilize the buildings we already own at the fire department and save the taxpayers a lot of money.

 



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Anonymous

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Also not a great way to treat the FUTURE GENERATION who also face adversity daily.  So who do we support?  Alot of the seniors have retired on very nice pensions and we all know our future generation, without a proper education, will not fare as well.  The state jobs, hospitals jobs, Whitehall labs jobs, etc. will not be there for them when they graduate.  And let's not forget every penny we take from the state now, our children will be responsible for paying back as New Jersey taxpayers.  I guess they can all go work in the wine bar and live off their tips.  That kind of stuff is important to the current regime.   It is time to stop living off the government and support ourselves.  We all know why HF is so interested in getting this built before the election next year - they need the votes to get their seats and they know seniors are the biggest group of voters. They also are the most likely to fall for scare tactics.  Are we all so naive?

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