Have not yet had the opportunity to get the Highlands’ Mayor’s point of view on this, but I was stunned to hear last night at the Atlantic Highlands council meeting that at this stage of the game, and I am beginning to believe it’s all one big game for some people, Atlantic Highlands is going to hire an expert who knows about regionalization finances.
Heck, the attorney they hired, Matt Giacobbe, has been telling them and the public for months he doesn’t know finances. Wasn’t that a clue to anyone, including himself, that he should not be handling this question of how much money Atlantic Highlands can save by regionalizing the schools with Sea Bright? What has he been doing all these months he’s been too busy to come to meetings, only appearing via phone or Zoom in that executive meeting with the governing body last month.
He was gracious enough last night however, to attend a public meeting via ZOOM, and answer questions to the best of his ability. He also spoke on the issue of hiring an expert to delve into the finances. Was it because he is uncomfortable with the figures? Wait… after months, only now he is uncomfortable?
If the Richard Beneke of Riverdale, NJ is the expert he retained, presumably with borough approval though I haven’t seen that action at a council meeting yet, and if he is the expert on educational matters as Mr. Giacobbe said last night, he doesn’t include any of that in his resume. That the firm Mr. Beneke heads are financial analysts and have been hired in many different municipalities across the state and beyond for redevelopment and other issues is doubtlessly impressive. But his resume of impressive work loads don’t include any schools, any regionalizations, or anything that even shows he is familiar with this area, although there was one personal job in Middletown and the railroad station in Aberdeen.
Mike Harmon asked some terrific questions, as he did at the last council meeting, armed with facts, statistics and about six inches of paperwork. But it was shocking once again that all the information both he and Erwin Bieber, another financial expert and a Sea Bright councilman who gave reams of information at earlier meetings and held discussions immediately following the last council meeting with Harmon, wasn’t even shared. Council members listened attentively to Harmon last month, it seemed, but apparently did not think about it once the meeting was over. They’re hiring a financial analyst, but they had one, perhaps two, in their midst, for nothing, and they didn’t even share that information with the attorney they also hired. After that was brought to their attention last night, whoopee, they’re sharing all Harmon’s hard work and figures.
Are all the elected officials in Atlantic Highlands falling under the spell of educators who don’t even want to think about Sea Bright joining in? Are they specifically stalling with this issue which has been around for years, just so the school boards can put it up for a vote and forget about Sea Bright? Heck few board members even bother coming to council meetings to learn about the money. But they haven’t shown any advantages in education of not joining with Sea Bright. Nor have they shown any advantages in education if they just regionalize the three schools that share so much as it is.
Speaking about finances … If the delays, the expert hirings and the meetings continue, pretty soon the cost of experts coming in to look at it all will cost far more than what Highlands and Atlantic Highlands would save just by joining their three schools into a district.
And by that time, Sea Bright is liable to say, “hey, you made it clear you don’t believe we can save you money…we’re outta here.”
