So why isn't there a Democrat running for Township Committee this Nov?

Tammany Hall - Baer, Gorin and Romano!!

The system is set up to have a male leader and a female leader. That seems bizarre to me to begin with but then it appears that in at least 3 of the districts the male/female pair are husband and wife, which is totally crazy.

No wonder the Democrats can not find anyone to run on their line for Township Committee, even though Haimoff would appear to be vulnerable given all the discontent (which imo is not deserved on her) over what happened after the two storms last year.

Shame we don't have 2-parties in the Township Committee.

How about some real Millburn news? Like yesterday, without any public input and in secret Tim Gordon eliminated police dispatching, firing 6 employees effective January 1st. Livingston Police, much to the dismay of police personnel will be taking over dispatching and I am told is an incredibly dangerous situation for the residents and public safety.

Tim Gordon managed to do this, because he is more powerful than the elected officials and is controlling the ranking officer of the police department by holding promotions of sergeants, lieutenants, and a captain over their heads to buy their silence.

Fire Chief Roberts has refused to compromise and allow a substantial tax savings by having the police department dispatch the fire department (now done by Summit Fire Department).

The point being, even if you feel consolidation of dispatching personnel is a good idea, why is it done being done in secret and without the public input and debate? This is something that should be discussed at a Township Committee Meeting and not in secret, our lives depend on public safety and we deserve to know the truth.

Oh rumor has it the Municipal Court is next to go. People should look at South Orange and Maplewood and see how well that worked. What is going on?

Well, another applause to our wonderful mayor and her committee for allowing our law enforcement services to be provided by our neighboring town, Livingston. First garbage, now this, what's next mayor?

Small towns like Millburn do not need and should not have their own soup to nuts menu of services. I say hurrah for shared services and privatization. It is only way to keep some lid on property taxes.

This one btw has been in the works for a long time.

And my garbage is being picked up just fine. I have never had a problem putting it out at the right time and never felt entitled (or even knew there existed) special pickup.

I have to assume that the prior two comments are from public employees and not taxpayers.

As a resident if Millburn and not happy about our taxes, I do believe that things do need to change but not if it is going to affect the safety of my family. Growing up in Hunterdon County, I was very much aware and used to the state police handling calls, volunteer fire and medical services doing the job just fine and a county diapatch center that handled many towns. For the taxes I pay, I would have liked to have an opportunity to hear about this at a town meeting or even in the paper , not on comments. What is the need for this? Why does Summit dispatch for our fire department and not our own officers? What happens when we need to speak to an officer, do we then go to Livingston? Where is the explanation for all this? Can anyone verify that this is true? It seems as if Millburn is going the route of rendering our services to the hands of others. Is this really going to reduce our taxes?

The shared Fire dispatching with Summit was most definitely discussed at Township Committee meetings and I am quite sure voted on. A search here on Patch will bring up the relevant reports of those discussions.

There is less record of anything to do with the police department and Livingston but there has also been discussion of that over a period of years.

So this is hardly something coming out of the blue.

My impression since moving to town is that school matters are put under a nanomicroscope and discussed by the press and the community at large exhaustively while town matters are much less likely to be examined closely. The press reports on a few things and the community largely gives the Township Committee free reign on matters under its control (at least until last year's floods/power outages). Not surprising the Township Committee feels little need to engage the community on changes. Always thought this attitude of where to focus one's attention was because the community voted on the school budget and not the town budget. And I now assume the BOE will eventually get the "free reign" treatment now that community no longer will be able to vote on the school budget but clearly old habits die hard (but I do think that was what BOE was hoping for in taking away the right to vote). People seem to focus their attention on matters they can control.

I do remember all the discussions regarding the fire department and studies being done on consolidation with other towns (which are not even in our county). I will have to review past agenda meeting notes to read on this matter.
I do understand the need fight the to keep our taxes leveled but at what means do we do it. With all the crime going on in this town, is this going to help? Where is our explanation on what is going to happen to us, the taxpayers. On several occasions i have had to go to the police department and file a report, fill out a vacation form or even call for permission to have my car parked overnight (which is a whole another issue I have). How are issues going to be handled? Do we now go to Livingston police for these things? Where is the explanation for everything? Why must it be a big secret and then when something terrible happens everyone looks to see who can be blamed, what could have been done to prevent it and what do we do to prevent something from happening in the future. If a study was done for the fire department , where is the study for the police department? All I would like is to know how things are going to be handled when this happens?