Millville Insider

The Wheaton property has been in disrepair for years sitting at the entranceway to the city of Millville. It has long been the first impression to anyone entering the city. The owners, GGI, had not paid the taxes for years owing the city hundreds of   thousands of dollars. GGI also blocked the environmental cleanup of the property. Jim Parent and Jim Quinn were Directors of Revenue and Finance for much of that time but chose to do nothing about the problem or the unpaid taxes. When the City got a new Director of Revenue and Finance, the city began foreclosure proceedings in an effort to do something about this eyesore   and financial albatross.   In response to the foreclosure, GGI declared bankruptcy and the bankruptcy judge has decided the property should be returned to GGI. What does this mean for the city of Millville? The city is now once again at the mercy of GGI to do what it wants with the property. Will the City press GGI to pay its taxes? If GGI

At the June 5, 2018 meeting, Team Santiago approved another change order for the demolition of 109 E. Main Street. When questioned during the agenda session by two taxpayers no answers were given. Once again Mayor Santiago stated he did not have to answer any questions. The questions asked were during the public session regarding agenda items. This is the time to question and discuss what the commissioners will be voting on during the meeting. Once again no answers were given. One question was what is the change order for? The basis for the additional money is not listed in the agenda. No Commissioner replied, but the city clerk said that it does not have to be attached and anyone can stop at the clerk’s office to get a free copy on anything on the agenda. In the past the information was attached and available on line.   So much for the transparency Team Santiago promised. When it came time to vote, Commissioner Udalovas admitted she had not seen the change order and

At the June 5, 2018 work session, Commissioner Udalovas had city employees present information about Code enforcement citing Chapter 11, 25, and 61 of the municipal code. She chose Wayne Caregnato and Mario Santiago to educate her fellow commissioners about how the department works. The topics included rental inspections, code enforcement, zoning, and business inspections. The commissioners were able to ask questions. What is of note in this discussion was that Commissioner Udalovas did not know that code enforcement is not in her department. Code enforcement is in Commissioner Pepitone’s department and it is obvious from his questions that he knows very little about it or even that it is his responsibility. At the January reorganization meeting the following powers, duties and personnel were assigned to the Department of Public Affairs and Commissioner Udalovas was given that department:                   Community Development /CDBG                      

Commissioner Udalovas read a proclamation for the Industrial Commission members stating their contributions to the city. The contributions were:       1. Hiring a realtor to promote the available land at the airport industrial park                       - This resulted in a proposal for the sale of land for a new business at the airport                         which would result in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale and jobs                         from the future business.     2. Brownfields  Strategy                       - The city has several Brownfields  sites that have available grants for                           their cleanup. Nothing had been done about this until the Industrial Commission                          pursued the matter.     3. List of real estate owned by the city that could be sold                        - If sold, the properties would generate tax income for the city. Before the Industrial                           Comm