Firemen Against Sheena Knock On My Door

Mark and Howard have been exceptional Trustees. They have been tireless, honest, fact-based, workhorses for their Village; and they leave at a moment when experience, candor, and gravitas such as theirs is in increasingly short supply. They'll be missed. DDF won't...

-s.

Any know how long each trustee candidate has lived in town? Some have said ( Ed, Stacey, Bob, Matt) but I'm curious about some of the others. Haven’t paid total attention so sorrry if I missed some who have discussed this) one has to live her for one year before being elected. That might be something to change in the future to make sure the candidate understands this community well enough 

librarylady said:
Any know how long each trustee candidate has lived in town? Some have said ( Ed, Stacey, Bob, Matt) but I'm curious about some of the others. Haven’t paid total attention so sorrry if I missed some who have discussed this) one has to live her for one year before being elected. That might be something to change in the future to make sure the candidate understands this community well enough 

 See details in the following doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hpNrkvLzyNdBaxVoZEHDBzcdxDmYT3CF3dEBVvUsHBk

mayhewdrive said:
 See details in the following doc:


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hpNrkvLzyNdBaxVoZEHDBzcdxDmYT3CF3dEBVvUsHBk

 Thanks Mayhew. Guess my only question now is WHEN Mr. Grossi moved in. Over a year? Just less than a year? I'm sure he's qualified but it might be close.

librarylady said:

mayhewdrive said:
 See details in the following doc:


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hpNrkvLzyNdBaxVoZEHDBzcdxDmYT3CF3dEBVvUsHBk

 Thanks Mayhew. Guess my only question now is WHEN Mr. Grossi moved in. Over a year? Just less than a year? I'm sure he's qualified but it might be close.

Agreed. The charter states:

“(a) The Village President and each Trustee shall be a resident and legal voter of the village for at least one year preceding the election at which such person is chosen.”  

I always thought that meant you had to be registered for 1 year before the election. 

At their initial kickoff party, he said he lived here “around a year”, but in the recent TAP profile, he said 2 years. 

Frankly, I don’t think he has a prayer to win, but if he does, it’s certainly worth looking in to. 

I wonder if Mr. Grossi fully understood what he was getting into by running with DDF.

I don’t know if any of the line A trustee candidates realized they were riding a clown car toward the edge of a cliff. Win or lose, it’s not a good look for any future political ambitions to keep drumming on one issue. Its possible they had their own valid issues to amplify, but got swallowed up by this firehouse thing.

Sheena posted this on her Facebook page yesterday: 

"Hi Neighbors - the state firefighters union who is funding my opponent's campaign is back canvassing in our community. We've been sent the basic "talking points" so I just want to highlight facts again in case you encounter this. The script has changed several times throughout this process, so please be informed.

Also, please thank them for their tremendous service. (I really don't fault any firefighters from out of town. I'm sure they've been provided talking points or a lot of misinformation. Please be respectful (always). These are good people who may just be misinformed.

1) Initially our community was told by my opponent that only 3 firefighters would be on tour in South Orange and also raised concern about the future of our headquarters. That's been refuted by everyone (all elected officials and our press). Our headquarters remains open, we will have 14-18 per shift combined (with 6-8 in SO which we do today and all our existing equipment). The proposal we've been working on for quite some time provides better fire services, better efficiencies and saves our taxpayers money (particularly on excessive overtime which has been north of $500,000 for a while now).

2) Sheena understaffed the fire department. No. There have been no hiring freezes of any sort and any delay in hiring is because we have civil service and must hire off a list. Additionally, at full staffing, the excessive overtime still existed.

3) New talking point: Sheena has "higher aspirations" and she's only doing this to further her political career. Remind them that I've been a community volunteer for 17 years and there's no reason to get personal or use conjecture. This happens a lot with women and particularly younger women.

4) New talking point: Blame Sheena for lack of redevelopment in the downtown. Remind them that I'm the only candidate with redevelopment experience and that we need to balance the interests of what developers want with good planning, design, and financial terms that benefit taxpayers.

Hope that helps and again, be kind and appreciative for all they do for their communities.

If you have not yet read this piece, a well respected (and loved) outgoing Trustee "set the record straight" which wasn't easy for him to do given his long-time friendship with both me and my opponent but he absolutely did the right thing and I'm grateful."

https://villagegreennj.com/election/south-orange-trustee-rosner-sets-record-straight-on-fire-department-merger/