Students Take Charge At Board of Education

By Alyssa Riccardi

HOWELL – Elementary students had the opportunity to voice their opinions as they took on positions of the Howell Township Board of Education.

At a recent meeting, staff and students celebrated Student Board of Education Day. The daylong event doesn’t start and end at the meeting. Students are first chosen by board members through an essay contest. A total of 15 were chosen, three students from each grade 3 to 5.

After being selected, nine of them were chosen to represent board members – one board president and one board vice president. Five were chosen to be senior administrators, including the superintendent, and one was chosen as board attorney.

During the day, the students were broken up into three committees. Those committees were Policy, Operations, and Education. Depending on ideas they wrote about in their essay, the students were assigned to a committee. At the meeting, students discussed items that they included in their essay and had the chance to explain their viewpoint. Some topics consisted of

–Photo courtesy Howell Schools Students held meetings for discussion.

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Township Manager Joe Clark said the budget process included discussing needs with various department heads. The goal was to use a conservative approach that also gave residents cost-effective, high-quality services.

“We engaged in some horse trading among departments,” Clark shared. “Trading off what we need to do this year versus next.”

One of the positives revealed in a recent budget presentation included a summary of the 2022 budget.

“We were able to regenerate a significant amount of surplus back into the coffers based on our 2022 performance,” said Chief Financial Officer Louis Palazzo. “Construction permits, as well as some of the fees and permits that we took in, including a lot of the community development related fees and permits, helped regenerate a lot of that.”

The 2023 budget will not use the entire $2.7 million surplus, as plans are to keep a healthy reserve. Instead, authorities plan to tap into just $650,000 of the reserves to lessen the proposed tax hike.

Increases come from such issues as inflation and contractual obligations with employees.

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Five separate unions represent different classes of workers who serve the community. Total salary and wage increases for 2023 total in excess of $1 million, including an allocation of $384,500 to enhance school safety by adding three special law enforcement officers. The latter expense will be split with the Board of Education.

“We have unanticipated increases in a lot of our expenses, including state health, increased pension costs, and increased liability insurance,” added Clark. “Health benefits actually went up $700,000.”

Clark said that the local government would assume $460,000 of the increased cost for health benefits. Employees will make up the $240,000 difference based on a variety of factors. The township’s obligation towards employee pensions is up nearly $601,000 for 2023.

Job vacancies that occur for any reason will not necessarily result in replacement hires. However, the township plans to add three new police officers, a code enforcement inspector, and an administrative assistant for a housing unit. The add-ons to code enforcement would be offset by increased revenue in the department.

“Code enforcement needs help,” said Matt Howard, Director of Community Development and Land Use Officer. “Hiring one new inspector will give us one person dedicated solely to housing...Also, the nature of our department is there’s a big administrative task for landlord registrations and certificate applications.”

The 2023 budget also includes a provision for the hiring of two full-time EMTs for the overnight shift. This, coupled with bringing back one of Howell’s ambulances, allows for more consistent emergency services coverage throughout the community. Insurance payments made to the squad defray most of the EMS cost.

Other budget challenges include increases for gasoline, diesel and asphalt needed to repave the roads.

Clark said his review of a draft efficiency study concerning township operations should be finalized by mid-May. In the meantime, he’s decided to employ some of the suggestions that appear to have merit.

“We’re revamping bulk pick up, which should save us $50,000 to $100,000 a year,” Clark shared. “We’re going to rework our drop-off yard.”

Howell officials anticipate increasing revenue through various means. Among them is a heavy concentration on increasing fines for landlord violations. Other code enforcement issues include problems with vacant and abandoned buildings and their prospective removal as part of a proposed demolishment program. According to Clark, local taxpayers pay an average of $8,400 in annual property taxes. The average for Monmouth County is $10,000; the state average is $10,000.

“We think this is a reasonable solid budget,” said Clark. “We’re in a very odd situation economically, and we think this spares the taxpayers as much as possible while still meeting the township’s budgetary needs.”

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Additionally, the students recommend the support of a proclamation signed by Governor Murphy making April Child Abuse Prevention Month. They then forwarded that proclamation and asked the Board to adopt it and send it out to legislators.

This is the 5th year the district has held Student Board of Education Day. When asked what they learned from this experience, one student said “they felt the board of education does a lot more for the schools than they actually thought they did.”

Howell BOE President Al Miller said Student Board of Education Day is a great opportunity where students felt their voices were being heard.

“It was great to see the dedication of each and every student to this experience. They all came in with great ideas and in the committee meetings they were ready to explain why their ideas would work,” Miller said.

“The Student Board of Education Day is a wonderful experiential learning opportunity for our 5th grade students. This civics activity helps to engage and educate students in our local government processes and the important role of the school Board,” Superintendent Joseph Isola said. “It is one of my favorite days of the school year, as I get to work firsthand with our students who continuously serve as a source of pride for our school district.”

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has been in place since 2018, has been beset by a number of fiscal and jurisdictional hurdles that have not only frustrated township officials, but residents as well.

While the lofty allocation proposed by Bonevich was not realized, the township did increase the program’s budget to its current $60,000 and that allowed the town to put three property owners on notice regarding their derelict structures. By the township’s estimation, the projected cost of each demolition would be $20,000, thus effectively using up the allocation for the fiscal year.

But the notices to the property owners paid big dividends, as each of them consented to pay the cost of the demolition themselves, thus saving the taxpayers money and accelerating the process.

“Overall, the program has been a success,” noted Howard, referencing recent removals on the south side of Bergerville Road. The structures, which were located near the Pointe O’ Woods development, had been targeted for demolition by a previous round of orders. “This was another case of missing property owners, but when issued with a formal Order to Demolish we were able to fi nally make contact with the owners. Through this open line of communication, we were able to compel the owners to demolish these structures without using taxpayer money.”

At the time of the original presentation, Howard had reported how the program continued to operate through the pandemic and had worked to fi nd five prime targets for the township to remove. During the past year, the township removed four of the identified structures at the cost and cooperation of the owners, with just one by the township directly. In 2023, Howell is looking to build on their previous success.

The three targeted properties that will be demolished by the owners are expected to come down within the next several months, according to Howard, which will not only increase civic pride, but save the township considerable cost. In all, the projected costs for just the dilapidated structures along Bergerville Road approached the $200 thousand range, which was a figure that the township was not willing to commit to in one fiscal year.

“This cost is over three times the annual allotment of the Township’s demolition budget,” admitted Howard, “and without any knowledge if or when a lien would be repaid, the township has reservations moving forward on demolishing the properties itself at this time.”

However, if the township can continue to produce results such as they have in the early part of 2023 by having owners foot the bill for the demolition, the program will likely redouble its success.

But local residents near the structures along Bergerville Road have voiced their concerns to township officials citing the potential hazards, as well as the simple visual nuisances the structures represent. Postings on local Howell social media websites have also echoed these sentiments.

Referred to locally as the “Bergerville Bungalows,” the structures present a unique set of problems for the township that has slowed their removal. One major concern is the environmental impact of the removal of the buildings due to the presence of possible hazardous materials contained within them. Located on the north side of Bergerville Road, they are immediately adjacent to the Manasquan River, which feeds directly into the Manasquan Reservoir. Hasty or slipshod removal of these structures could not only cause damage to the surrounding environment, but taint the water supply in the area.

In addition to the environmental and fiscal restraints upon the program, there are other factors that have slowed the progress of the township’s timetable.

Often times, there are problems identifying or locating the owners of the property in order to serve them with notice of the township’s ordinance. Should there be non-compliance by the owners, the matter must then pass through a legal process before the township can give the green light to safely remove the structures. However, township officials have been working to remove these impediments.

“We have also instituted a new vacant [and] abandoned property ordinance that requires registration of vacant properties,” stated Howard. “We noticed over seventy property owners through the initial round of violations and several have registered. A lot of the properties noticed are clearly vacant but they did not rise to the level of needing to be demolished in the sense that they did not meet all of the necessary criteria.”

If an inspection of the structures at a site shows that it is still in sound shape, while unsightly, it will be permitted to stand and does not come under the township’s demolition jurisdiction.

“To our surprise,” commented Howard, “some property owners are electing to demolish some structures as opposed to registering them. It does appear that either through demolition, rehabilitation, or registration that this new ordinance will go a long way towards improving the township by compelling owners to keep their properties in better condition.”

But the township is looking to achieve their ends through the intelligence of the legal system, rather than the brute force of the bulldozer. As part of the implementation of their Master Plan, the township held an abandoned property hearing in November 2022, in which it announced their intentions to move with renewed vigor against such property owners. Citing the fact that the structures were unsafe and open to the elements, they also found them to be in violation due to the fact that they could harbor wildlife or vermin and could be openly accessed by members of the public, thereby creating a hazard.

In addition, Howell has appointed a special counsel to be in charge of such affairs, especially in regard to the structures along Bergerville Road. In doing so, they hope to have property owners move to correct all violations, and if necessary, pursue the matter through the court system to achieve the desired results.