Millville Insider

It is no secret that Team Santiago is having trouble preparing a   budget that will not raise your real estate taxes. Mr. Parent has stated at numerous meetings that this budget is a tough one. So why can you expect to see a tax increase? 1.      The 109 E. Main Street Demolition -        The no bid demolition cost is close to $2 million dollars and the bills are still coming in. For example, Aliano Brothers will be paid an additional $82,840 to repair the wall damaged by the demolition. Since 2003 the City has paid Aliano Brothers close to $4 million dollars for different projects.                             2.      Lawyers Fees -        How does an attorney who bid $55,000 to be the city solicitor end up making over $240,0...

Team Santiago was predictable at the last commission meeting. The work session lasted only 2 minutes and 17 seconds. How can there be no business that the commissioners need to discuss?   Of course at the last meeting, when Ms. Udalovas asked Mayor Santiago a question he requested that questions be asked prior to the meeting. It seems Mayor Santiago wants the public to be in the dark. So much for the transparency promised during the election. Mr. Pepitone missed another meeting and Mr. Parent once again reminded the taxpayers that 2019 budget would be a tough one. It was déjà vu all over again as Team Santiago gave more money to the partisan politicians who financed their negative campaign. Step one was to transfer $170,000 in funds from several accounts to have enough money to give away.   All the commissioners voted for the money transfer. When it was time to vote on giving the money to Long and Schroeder, Ms. Udalovas voted no. Once again, this was to...

The October 2, 2018 Commission meeting held a few noteworthy items. The work session, which is to promote transparency and give the commissioners and the public a chance to ask questions, lasted 1 and ½ minutes, yes only 90 seconds. Team Santiago must not need to know what is going on and obviously there is no transparency. During the commission meeting, Mayor Santiago read a lengthy engineering report.   He said the Pennoni engineering firm refused to certify the integrity of the whole building at 105 E. Main Street, only the shared wall. Mayor Santiago went on to say that 105 E. Main Street should be certified but no one has asked the firm to do so, not the owners of the building or the city. What does this mean? Is the building safe? Should it be inspected or is Pennoni washing its hands of any liability for the demolition? When the mayor was done reading the engineering report he stated that in the past 4 ½ years there had never been an engineering report...

The Team Santiago Commissioners are spending money hand over fist with no indication about where the money is going to come from. We all know it’s going to come from increased real estate taxes. The only question is how much and when. Team Santiago has cancelled the construction department’s shared service agreement with Upper Deerfield which by all accounts has done a good job for the city. The construction department under Upper Deerfield was run efficiently and impartially. For the first time in recent memory the department was operating in the black. When the department was run in house, it constantly ran at a deficit often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bringing the department back in house will mean the city will lose over $100,000 yearly. With the department in-house the city, by statute, cannot make a profit so that $100,000 is gone.   The city will also have to hire a construction official, several inspectors, and office staff. The funds wi...

At the August 21, 2018 work session the reappointment of Doug Long’s law firm was discussed. Thank you once again to Commissioner Udalovas for questioning the appointment however, she was really not questioning the appointment or the need to go out to bid but rather how to pay Mr. Long. The question was whether to let Mr. Long bill hourly, or give him a flat fee for his work. The city attorney, James Schroeder stated it is hard to have a flat fee for work. He stated that he does the same work being given to Mr. Long for Hamilton Twp. so while the issue is being looked into Mr. Schroeder will do the work. Mind you it is out of his contract so he will be billing for the work. He also stated if he has a question he will contact Mr. Long’s firm. That will be an additional fee. The attorney’s fees are spiraling out of control in the Commission’s effort to repay them for their support in the last election. The city administrator admitted that the city has been paying Long...

At the August 7, 2018 commission meeting, Mr. Parent spoke at length (as usual). He is working on the 2019 budget and warned taxpayers that it will be a tough one. Translation: tax increase. What do you expect? Team Santiago has been giving away taxpayer’s money left and right. (Read the blogs on the Demolition at 109 E. Main Street).   Mr. Parent also discussed the city’s attorneys. He spoke about the attorneys who have already exhausted their budgets exceeding their contracts and needing an additional $200,000 to make it to the end of the year. Mr. Parent as usual did not accept any of the responsibility but blamed the over runs on others.   Team Santiago chose the out of town attorneys and agreed to the contracts even though they were not the low bids. Mr. Parent as usually distorted the facts and ignored the following: 1.     Fact: Team Santiago hired Doug Long’s law firm which is ethically challenged and   has been fired by other mu...