Posts Tagged ‘DiFolco’
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Talks have heated up and the Township and the Gardens residents may be close to a settlement
It looks like Brown, DiFolco and Jones kept their campaign promise and have been working to resolve things with the Gardens. Something previous administrations could not accomplish.
BCT Story
Residents in Mount Holly Gardens have had it with their more than decadelong legal battle over the redevelopment of their neighborhood.
On Monday, some residents who remain in their homes, despite demolition and construction all around them, had a message for the Township Council: End our uncertainty and help us get on with our lives. (more…)
Tags: DiFolco, Gardens, Jason Jones, Lew Brown, Town Council
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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
Ding Dong Gibson is gone
The 30 year rule of the High Street Machine ended yesterday and a new chapter began in Mt. Holly. With the swearing-in of Lew Brown, Rich DiFolco and Jason Jones a new administration begins. Rich Dow was elected Mayor by his peers and DiFolco Deputy Mayor. The only remnant of the political machine that has run Mt. Holly for 30+ years is Dwynne Belton. Belton showed little class at the meeting by questioning everything the new council did and only succeeded in making himself look foolish. At the end of the day he is now irrelevant and those he serves (High Street & Winzingers) are no longer in power to do what they please with our tax dollars. The new year also means good riddance to Tom Gibson who served 2+ terms without ever having faced a contested election.
The new council has a lot of work to do fixing this town and I hope they are up to the task.
Quotes of the night:
“For too long our local government has been about budgets and line items and not the people, that changes today.” -Rich DiFolco
“Mt. Holly can be and will be a great town again” -Jason Jones
Tags: Belton, DiFolco, Jason Jones, Lew Brown, Town Council
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Friday, November 9th, 2012
Donnelly and Hollowell lose by a lot!
DiFolco- 2030 Jones- 1954 Brown- 1951
Donnelly- 1158 Hollowell- 1099
*these figures to not include absentee ballots
BCT coverage
Hollowell a sore loser for 2nd year in a row, cries to BCT
Tags: 2012 Election, DiFolco, Donnelly, Hollowell, Jason Jones, Lew Brown
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Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
Looks like its the High Street Political Machine versus Average Joes
High Street Slate:
Mayor Ryan Donnelly, Allen Hollowell and Paul Tuliano
Opposition Slate:
Coach Lew Brown, Rich DiFolco and Jason Jones
A google search yields the following website for the slate: http://mountholly2012.com/
More to come as campaign season begins including a list of “who’s who” on the petitions the candidates submitted to run for office. Will post more about candidates once information is available.
Tags: 2012 Election, DiFolco, Donnelly, Hollowell, Jason Jones, Lew Brown, Paul Tuliano, Town Council
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Friday, June 15th, 2012
Township attorney gives bad legal advice AGAIN and Council raids UEZ funds
Mount Holly adopts $8.1 Million budget
BCT story by Rose Krebs
After some confusion, it turns out the Township Council adopted a budget for 2012 on Monday night.
Initially, it was indicated at the meeting that the $8.1 million spending plan was not adopted because a 3-2 vote was not a supermajority.
Township Solicitor Brian Guest of Parker McCay originally ruled that the budget had failed and would need to be sent to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for consideration. (more…)
Tags: Belton, Budget, DiFolco, Donnelly, Dow, Gibson, TAXES, Town Council, UEZ
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Friday, April 27th, 2012
Town Council to raise our taxes AGAIN (and Belton clueless)
BCT story
The Township Council has proposed an $8 million municipal budget for 2012 that includes an annual tax increase of about $50. (more…)
Tags: Belton, DiFolco, Donnelly, Dow, Gibson, TAXES, Town Council
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Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Township attorney backtracks on own legal advice
Lets keep it real here. If Boss Silcox would have been appointed in this manner no one would be making a fuss over this. But we all know who pulls the puppet strings on town council. Gibson and Belton are working overtime (well at least the township attorney is on your dime) to find a loophole to get Silcox back onto the MUA.
Kind of funny how the same law firm that told Town Council in a public meeting that Dave Benn was appointed to MUA is now trying to say that he is not. If this proves anything its that the people really running this town are not the elected ones.
BCT story
by Rose Krebs
To count an abstention or to not count an abstention? That is the legal question the Township Council brought to the forefront this week.
And it seems the question is not an easy one to answer. (more…)
Tags: Belton, DiFolco, Donnelly, Dow, Gibson, MUA, Town Council
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Saturday, January 21st, 2012
Township will have to fork out $8 MILLION more
BCT Story
Progress on the redevelopment of Mount Holly Gardens remains in a holding pattern as the municipality is running out of money to purchase and demolish the remaining homes.
Only about $300,000 is left to buy and tear down the homes to make way for a new development planned at the property off Levis Drive and the Route 541 Bypass, Township Manager Kathy Hoffman said.
At least $6 million to $8 million more will be needed to be bonded, Hoffman said. (more…)
Tags: Belton, DiFolco, Donnelly, Dow, Gardens, Gibson, TAXES, Town Council
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Monday, January 2nd, 2012
School and Fire District budgets rubber stamped, new Councilman elected, Council refuses to pass ethics policy (twice), and police force cut while crime on the rise.
Budgets
The year 2011 brought a couple surprises but a lot of business as usual. In February the Fire District budget was defeated by the public just to have Town Council rubber stamp it and keep the tax increase intact. The same thing happened in April with the School District budget when that was defeated by the voters as well. Councilman Dow seemed to be the only member of Council listening to the will of the voters as he voted no for both defeated budgets. Also in April on the school ballot was a public question for the township to exceed the 2% tax cap. The question was narrowly defeated in contrast to the school budgets that were defeated by significant margins. As a result of the defeated cap question the MHPD staffing was cut and two police officers now patrol our town per shift instead of three. At the same time violent crime has been on the rise and at least four shootings occurred in town.
Elections (more…)
Tags: 2011 Election, 2012 Election, Belton, DiFolco, Donnelly, Dow, Election, Gibson, Kent Pipes, PATRONAGE, PAY-TO-PLAY, TAXES, Town Council
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Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
DiFolco advances township ethics reform
On Monday night Rich DiFolco was sworn in by Democrat Assemblyman Troy Singleton. After taking office DiFolco did not waste any time. After thanking the volunteers on his campaign and the voters of Mount Holly he made a motion to reintroduce the ethics (pay-to-play) reform that Town Council tabled months ago. With Councilman Dow seconding the motion it passed and will have the first reading at a future meeting.
This ordinance will prevent lawyers and engineers that have contracts with the township from contributing to political campaigns for members of town council. This ordinance was previously supported by Councilman Dow but died after first reading when Mt. Holly did not receive additional state aid. The ordianace was mandatory to recieve the aid but Councilman Belton and Gibson refused to support it after getting pressure from the political boss on High Street. Basically they supported it to get state funds then refused to support it after being lobbied and now will be forced to publicly vote on it again. What will they do? Will they flip-flop again?
Kudos to new Councilman DiFolco for keeping his campaign promise and introducing the much needed ethics reform to improve transparency in our local government.
Tags: Belton, DiFolco, Gibson, PAY-TO-PLAY, Singleton, TAXES
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