Highlands is Going to Pot … and Nobody Cares

Hey my friends in Highlands! Hey, all you Highlands taxpayers I don’t even know! Hey! All you Highlands residents who complain about stuff but never do anything about it.

Wake up!

You just might be in big trouble!

You just might have taxes you can’t afford pretty soon. For those of us that lived in Highlands before it was fashionable … We already can’t afford the taxes

And for sure you don’t even know where all your tax money is going !  Don’t you even care?

I care.

I care a lot…

But I don’t live in Highlands anymore. The politicians ruined it … and residents who have sat idly by enabled them to ruin it.

I lived in Highlands for over for 40 years … I had a home there, I raised my children there, I loved it there… and I was  forced to find someplace else to live after my husband died, I couldn’t afford to come back to Highlands. Can you believe that? So I moved to Atlantic Highlands, but forever, I have left my heart in Highlands.

But I’m tired of fighting for all you residents who don’t seem to care about anything.

Let me explain.  I like your Mayor. Indeed, I don’t always agree with her. But I respect her because she’s smart, she’s got great ideas, she gets things done. But she doesn’t always tell you everything.

That’s not her fault. You don’t even ask. You don’t even go to meetings to find out what’s going on. And I can also blame you for my not being able to go to meetings, too.

You see, just about every town I know has ZOOM. So people who couldn’t get to meetings, whether it’s because they are disabled, have no babysitter or any other reason, can still be active participate in their town.

Not Highlands.

Do you even know that two nights ago the Highlands Council voted to approve three cannabis dispensaries in town?  THREE, yes, that’s right. Only one Councilman, Mr. Melnyk, voted against two or three, not sure.  Everybody else approved them. I’m not sure of Mr. Melnyk’s vote or even the reason for it each of the three  times. That’s because since I couldn’t go to the meeting, I wanted to at least hear it. I had read the agenda online, one very positive action of the borough clerk. But when I got to hear the recording, the background nose, rustling of papers, and poor audio system at the Community Center made it almost impossible to hear every word. In some places, I could ‘t hear any words at all.

It ceases to be the fault of the Mayor and Council if nobody in town gives a good darn about whether they know what’s going on or not.

I couldn’t tell how many people were at the council meeting; they don’t announce it. And you can’t see it on the recording. But I know only two people gave opinions at the meeting.  So approval of THREE cannabis dispensaries were  okayed by a major vote.  Is that what everyone in town wants?

Had you attended the meeting, I’m sure the Mayor would have told you, as she told the one questioning resident. Of course there won’t be THREE cannabis dispensaries in town.  And the borough doesn’t make the final decision either, that’s up to the state. But just in case, three are in the running and nobody but the one resident who asked a couple of questions even knew it was happening at a meeting that probably would have been well attended, or ZOOMed if the borough offered that option.

It takes reading the resolution, or attending the meeting to know that in the end only one of those three will actually be successful in opening a business in Highlands. And that the borough will also approve it once the state has said the first of three is ok to go. Don’t know how the borough will decide which one if the state sends all three approvals together.

Now the Mayor, like I said, is really smart and really cares for the town. I think she wants people to know what’s going on. But it isn’t up to her to make sure you go to meetings. Or read the resolutions attached to the agenda a day before the meeting.

You, the taxpayer, have to do something on your own.

Ok, that’s one thing, and even those opposed to a dispensary will get used to it, once it’s profitable, the police department has added new levels on demand to their already busy schedules, and all the borough departments keep on top of any violations, as they generally do on all businesses in town.

But there’s another bit of borough business the towns people aren’t paying a speck of attention to. That’s the multi-million dollar cost of that new borough hall on the hill.  The builder and borough have a camera on site so you can watch the construction as it’s happening. It’s a bit ahead of schedule, I think and going up as it should be … I suppose.

But try and find the paperwork that guides it. Try and find out how they’re paying the architect his close to a million dollars and what he’s doing to earn it. For that matter, try and find the architect’s contract!

Kevin M.   Settembrino  is the architect. He’s also overseeing the construction, along with, yes, another salary, the project manager. So far, he’s been paid over $700,000 over the past few years.

But where is his contract?

I asked for it. Couldn’t get it.

I OPRAed it. Still couldn’t get it.

Waited after the clerk told me they couldn’t find it.

OPRAed it again. Still couldn’t get it.

Clerk told me they were asking Sentebrino for it!

Ok, stop and think of that for a minute.

The borough is paying all the bills. Hopefully, but I don’t know, they wrote the contract with the architect. But they told me they don’t have it. They told me they had to ASK him for it?

Are you kidding me?

It only gets worse.  He never sent it. Or maybe he did, how would I know? They never told me.

Then they closed my OPRA request and deemed it complete. Complete without giving me what I was asking for.

And the firm gets paid every month or so.  Based on what? If there’s no contract, or it’s a contract he supplies…don’t know if it’s signed by the borough, because of course I haven’t seen it, how do they figure how much he gets paid each month?

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. The borough accepted a bid of $10,599,000 for the building.

Then they said it would cost   $10,400,000. Where did that figure come from?

Now the cost, when you add them all up..which I can’t of course, because thee again, I asked for the actual contract with Kappa Construction, the builder, and I only got the routine one every contractor has, not the specifics for this specific construction.

I asked for the bids and estimates for Furniture … The Borough refused to provide them;

I asked for the bids and estimates for Fixtures … The Borough refused to provide them;

I asked for the bids and estimates for Equipment … The Borough refused to provide them;

You’ve heard of Kappa Construction’s name. You’ve seen it in writing in recent months. It’s the same company who two years ago built that $1.5 million building in the Yacht Harbor in Atlantic Highlands, the next town over. That’s the building that now involves lawyers, the Harbor Commission, the Mayor and Council trying to figure out how the things that were done improperly when it was built and bonded haven’t been fixed, replaced, or modified in the 20 months the tenant has been pointing them out.  Actually, the renter has gotten so frustrated with the dangerous situation the faulty construction puts him in, he’s asked to be released from his lease.

Is this what Highlands wants, fighting two years after construction is complete  after official borough, court  and police protection are moved in?

Stick around; I’ve asked a lot more questions, gotten many non answers and I can explain what hasn’t been answered and possibly why, and then tell you some of the answers I have received, with information that might shock you.

And if that happens, I hope it shocks you enough to wake up, ask questions, demand answers, find out actual costs, look at approved bills and save my town from economic disaster.

My heart is still there and I don’t want it broken..

Check out recent related articles concerning the new Borough Hall

Borough Hall Update

10 Million to 10.6 Million

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