VOTE411 Voter Guide

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To implement good governance practices in Town Hall and during Town Council meetings

Much of my career was spent managing claims and lawsuits against large corporations. I know of the Rao lawsuit, the investigation into the taking of health benefits by council members, and the two suits arising out of the Lackawanna Plaza Redevelopment Plan. However, I am not privy to the Town's defense strategy or evaluation of these cases, settlement options, motion practices, defense cost, etc. My experience informs me that I would need to be briefed by the Town's outside counsel on the details of each matter, speak to the Town Manager, and have discussion with the Town's insurance carrier, to understand the advantages and disadvantages of continuing to defend or seeking to settle.

My highest priority is to bring good government ethical practices and policies back, with a transparent, honest and responsive Council. The reform of our meeting structure to return to agendas with an earlier public comment period & three minute instead of 2 minute speaking limits, is critical to restoring confidence in our government leadership. Civility and democracy will be my guiding principles as a member of the town Council. No resident, especially Senior Citizens, will be cut off when speaking if needing additional time to conclude their comments. The Mayor along with the Council & Town Manager will be required to answer questions asked by the public at the time the resident is at the podium, not later, as is current practice.

I will vote to freeze all spending on expensive outside management and legal consulting. I'll ask our full-time township legal staff to resolve all conflicts with township employees, such as the CFO, and any other pending legal issues with developers and constituents. The township law department and attorneys must be able to handle all issues without excessive reliance on the hiring of outside law firms, and burdening taxpayers with these costs as we have done for the last several years. We continue to sue our own staff, take residents to court for whistleblowing and questioning the actions of the Mayor, Council and high-paid interim manager over policies and decisions made in a czar-like manner, exposing us to more legal challenges.