Planks for Committee Candidates to Walk

Lately, Middle Township probably has more folks with high blood pressure than anywhere else in the county. They’re squeezing those arm cuffs like nobody’s business, trying to see if they can get the numbers lower than their tax bills. Why? Funny you should ask, it’s about the new Master Plan.
They are all upset over something that ought to have been passed 40 years ago. They fret about overdevelopment and traffic and, well, you name it, and they are worried about it in the 72-square-mile municipality.
Granted, I am a latecomer to the county. I have only been here since about 1952, so I have no real right to complain, since I’m one part of the problem. Had the likes of my folks never decided to buy a house on South Main Street in Court House, well, who knows what might have transpired.
To be sure, Court House was a more open place then, not as many houses or people. Just about, everyone in town knew everyone else, their attributes and their sins. Nothing was really hidden in this quaint little place.
As President Lincoln noted in his Gettysburg Address, it seems, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war.” Actually, the blue and gray are not still hurling bullets and cannon balls at each other, but it may seem like it here in Middle Township. What will shape up within the next few weeks is probably the ugliest campaign, (if it could get any worse than last year’s) of the decade in a three-way race for one seat on the three-member Township Committee.
I’m not running, so here are platform planks that should be seriously addressed by the chaps who are making mud pies right now to toss at each other until the November election:
• A traffic study needs to be done. Forget whose job it’s supposed to be (county, state, township). The township is a traffic nightmare. Get some smart people to address the problem or drown in a future morass of cars and trucks.
• Create a volunteer committee who will keep the bike path in tip-top shape. Allow them to raise funds to maintain that two-mile-plus attraction before it cracks and gets ugly. It’s a great asset.
• Get another “blue-ribbon panel” in shape to consider a five-member governing body. Make sure there is ALWAYS minority representation. Lest you think it would cost a bundle more than the present band of solons, no. The concept is, Township Committee is allotted roughly $65,000 to run now. Instead of slicing the pie three ways, which same pie gets sliced five ways. No one’s supposed to be in government for the loot of bennies anyway, so, take the job for the greater glory of the people served.
• Hold Township Committee meetings in various parts of the municipality. It will expand committee’s horizon and might bring the people closer to government.
• Ensure playgrounds are available in key township locations. Enlist a band of youngsters to help keep them clean and monitored for damage.
• Review all ordinances. If you don’t plan to enforce some, wipe them off the books. If you want rampant signs everywhere, strike that chapter from your laws.
• Prepare for the worst, as in blizzards and floods. Let the citizens know who is in charge and what to do if the lights go out for a long time. Don’t keep them guessing in the cold and dark
• Make trash dumpsters available in key locations throughout the township. That way, if you have a load of smelly trash, you could haul it off early. It’s going to be picked up anyway, why let it linger three to five days until “trash day?”
• Do serious study to the sewer needs of ever part of the township.
There are places, once rural, that are a public health problem waiting to happen. Wells and septic tanks might work with 3.5-acre or larger lots, but when we have 100 by 150 feet lots with houses crammed together, I hate to say, but that’s not rural. That’s a looming problem.
• Consider a satellite municipal office in the “south end” of the municipality. Police have a sub station in Rio Grande and Green Creek. If there would be five committee people, perhaps they would see fit to hold “office hours” at certain times to hear from the people in those areas.
You will note, with a few exceptions, none of these planks would increase our tax burden. They would press the need for public-minded people to step forward, like the blue-ribbon panel to consider a five-member governing body.
Residents of Middle Township are truly fortunate people. They live in the best of all worlds, close to beaches and ocean, near to medical facilities and shopping centers. We have problems, yes, we do, and they will not get better by themselves. That is why there is a need for concerned citizens to step forward and get involved.
It is a chore to attend municipal meetings, and it is doubly frustrating to speak and believe you are not being heard. Maybe that will change
If enough ordinary citizens want something to happen, the leaders will get the message and make it happen
That is the glory of our election process, and why the above platform planks ought to receive very serious consideration by each of the three committee candidates.