“On behalf of the entire Lakewood Board of Education, Superintendent, and the Administration, I would like to extend our thanks to Mayor Steven Langert, Mr. Mike Muscillio Township Manager, Mr. Al Birdge Public Works Director and all the Township employees”, says Carl Fink, the Chairman of the BOE Building and Grounds Committee. “I, together with our new team on the BOE, reached out to the Township for help to have the DPW do some work for our schools at cost, which resulted in a $50,000.00 plus savings to the BOE on the recent work provided”, he says.
The projects included re-paving numerous potholes, seeding and mulching playgrounds and fixing the Clark school field and trimming trees.
“In years past, this work was done by private companies charging a profit”, says Fink.
“The Mayor and his team were enthusiastic and accommodating with our new initiative. The result was a win -win- win. The DPW received funds for the work instead of outside vendors, the taxpayers saved money on both sides.”
“It is in instances such as these that show the benefits that are reaped when Government works together for the common good of the citizens.”
“Thank you Mayor Langert and the entire Township Committee for making this partnership a success. We hope to continue to build on these ideas for the common good of Lakewood Residents.”
Finally someone uses their heads!! Way to go!! Keep it up!! We want a 10% decrease next year!
yeah good luck with that in your taxes…you have a better chance of moving out of Lakewood
Thank you Carl, Steven, and all of the pepole that helped with this project. Keep up the good work and thanks again for a job well done.
Bill Hobday
This was a wonderful idea and obviously we have two visionaries in Carl Fink and Mayor Langert! Working together is what works best!
Keep the good work coming!
now get the town to pick up public school garbage for free.
thanks dpw
Thank You Carl,
The dream team of the new boe members are finally gonna make a big differance in this town!!Tax and spend days are over…Thank You Langert and twp comittee for helping us out
We are ever so grateful for all the Township does for us. But how come Carl speaks for the Board? Where is the Board President?
To # 1..how can we honestly ask for a 10% decrease when the town is growing faster than other other municipality in Ocean County? GEEEEZZZZ
way to go 10% decrease next year
Mr. Fink In reality you did nothing more than shift the costs of the BOE to the DPW. This is done all the time. For example the DPW once spent over 6000 dollars for sheet music for the school marching band. We pay for it either way. Can any one of the BOE members tell me that they have observed how the schools are run for a few days? One day? Half a day? You guys look at a paper and make your decisions based on a spreadsheet. There are 80 children now with special needs that are losing all the benefits that they have gained the last year. We are not saving a cent from the fiasco you guys have caused.
Sorry Carl, it’s a lose, lose, lose situation- let me explain.
While on the surface- dollars and cents wise, it gave you instant savings, the facts are that whenever government becomes its own contractor, spending quickly slides out of control with zero accountability. For instance-, the Lakewood public works department, or our failing public school system or social security etc. The government is not a business and is not in business. It will never run businesses well and history has proven that.
That being said, the way you will save money on contracted work, is by having open bids with full transparency.
Oh- and same applies with you bringing Tiny Tots in-house.
Sounds great! Let’s hire more workers, increase our healthcare costs, pay pensions, etc.
It’s the same old junk. It will all lead to more taxes. We are having enough of a hard time managing our Public Works without the help of the BOE. Leave them alone and contract the work to outside professionals.
Hershel that was disrespectful. Carl did so much for this community and because you didnt win ur election ur gonna go and put everyone else down??
Carl, thanks 4 all uve done for us…
wishing you all the best!
to #11 – HH u hit the nail right on the head. It’s still taxpayer monies just taken from a different bucket. Plus while DPW was doing work at the schools it was not working on public roads, etc. It was all a smoke screen to make the BOE look better to the public after the Tiny Tot’s mess.
HH, and anonymous, please give us your plans on stopping an $18 million bussing budget. This is totally insane or maybe you think it’s wise. can we please hear your comments on this
I am not sure how anonymous thinks but the work to the schools would have cost the district $100,000.00 the township did the work for $50,000.00. To me this is a $50,000.00 saving’s to the BOE.
Hi Township committee or BOA member- I mean “concerned”- this is “anonymous”. I realized this was a trial balloon for bringing the bussing in house and that’s why I wrote my comments above.
With specific regards to bussing, I’m not sure you can really bring down that huge expense too much, even if you brought it in house. Face it- there are hundreds of busses driving kids to and from school every day and that cost allot of money. I happen to be slightly familiar with 2 of the vendors and to the best of knowledge, they are not massively rich people. They hopefully make a good living, but that’s about it. The vendors are not ripping the township off, they are making a living- and you’d anyways have to pay that in salaries to your employees, if you brought it in house. (By the way, I seriously question Carl’s statement that you saved $50,000 by taking this job in house. If a small, 1-2 week job – re-paving a few potholes, seeding and mulching a few playgrounds, fixing a field and trimming a few trees profits $50,000, than we are all in the wrong business!!)
The solution to the “out of control spending” in Lakewood is 1- open bids and 2- oversight of the winners of those bids.
Open Bids- When there are open bids, everyone is vying for your business. They will therefore only mark up their profits as minimally as possible, in order to win. When the term of their contract is over, there needs to once again be open bidding. No business should automatically be allowed to extend or renew their contract without an open bid process. This ensures that contractor’s fees continue to stay as low as possible.
Additionally- seek out vendors and shop around. Don’t assume every vendor reads your ad in the APP or TLS. Have someone go through the phone book and call as many local vendors as possible. I have a small business, which could have served this town well with work they needed done. The only way I knew about the open bid was from a friend who saw an ad for it and called me.
Also, make it easy for vendors to participate in the bid. In the aforementioned case, I requested the RFP. After taking one look at it, I decided this wasn’t for me. Like most business owners, I am in business to do the work we do well- not to fill out endless paper work and get an internal audit every time we wish to submit a quote.
Next is oversight- Businesses, like humans need oversight. Contracting out work without having someone on the townships end monitoring the work and the progress, is wasteful. For example, in the case of the bussing, I am told that if the bus routes were restructured to be more efficient, it could save allot of time (translate- money) and traffic. Like a business, the township has to be on top of their game and watch over their contractors to ensure the jobs are being done correctly and efficiently.
to #17 – the BOE paid the DPW $50,000 doesn’t mean it cost $50,000 the DPW absorbed the balance of the project cost into it’s budget. Bottom line it was done to make the BOE look good and to further so the image of the DPW as overbudgeted and wasteful. Don’t forget that the DPW will now be plowing snow for the schools. Only so many drivers and trucks – What roads won’t get plowed while we plow school parking lots?
Folks, when people do good everyone finds fault. Isn’t it about time we all concentrated on taking 6 failing schools into a system that is passing. Lakewood needs to be proud of all our children and support the BOE. Decisions are made based on whats right, not what a few people want to hear. If you think you can do a better job, there are committee’s in town that could use your help