Councilman Responds to Candidate’s Claims

To The Editor:
I have never backed down from a fight, especially one on behalf of the people of Ward 1 in Lower Township.
First of all, Pitts simply has not the first clue what she is talking about. She is spewing talking points fed to her by her political handlers. Through the efforts of our elected officials, including me as the representative of Ward 1, over the course of years, we negotiated a P.B.A. contract that was a full quar-ter percent below what was being awarded in bind-ing arbitration. This saved the taxpayers money.
As we move forward, with retirements, our me-dian police salary will go down and we will fight hard to lower the starting salaries of future officers and delay salary increases. Unlike Pitts, I refuse to turn the men and women of law enforcement into politi-cal pawns. We have cut where we can and we have gotten serious concessions out of our labor unions. I will never dishonor and demonize the hard-working employees of Lower Township for temporary political gain. It’s disgusting and Pitts should be ashamed of herself.
Next, while Pitts was trolling Spout Off online, I was doing the hard work necessary to bring in our local municipal budget with a zero percent tax in-crease. That’s right. Over the course of several years we managed to trim the budget to the point where we had no tax increase this year. Pitts would like to ignore this since it eliminates her entire reason for being, but she can’t escape the facts.
I admit, I am not an attention-starved politician. When I do something, I don’t shout it from the roof-tops and say “Hey everybody, look at me.” I like to work hard and I don’t look for any fanfare. I have been working on finding new ways to reduce spend-ing, including the installation of solar facilities throughout the township. I have also talked to peo-ple about wind energy, which I think makes sense for us. Actually, there is not a day that goes by that I am not thinking about or talking to someone about things that will make our township better while not hurting the wallets of the people of Ward 1.
On Tues., Nov. 2, you get to decide who you want to represent Ward 1 on Township Council. I have always worked hard for you because I am one of you. I am asking for your vote and promise only that if you reelect me I will continue to work to make life better for us all by improving on what we can afford.
TOM CONRAD
Villas
(ED. NOTE: Conrad is councilman for Ward 1.)