Millville Insider

Go to the commission meeting on October 1 st at 7pm. There is a resolution on the agenda to award a trash contract to the Atlantic County Improvement Authority. If you read the contract there are some significant changes: 1.      The city will provide the trashcans and only one can be put out on trash day. The Director of Public Works namely Mr. Santiago determines the size of the trashcan. 2.      The recyclables will only be picked up every other week. 3.      There is no mention of bulky waste pickup at the end of the month. That means no furniture or mattresses; no washers or dryers; etc will be picked up at the end of the month. Here are the questions that immediately come to mind: 1.      The savings on the contract is estimated to be $50,000 on a contract of over $1 Million.   What are the city supplied trashcans going to cost the city? Is this really a s...

Team Santiago put on quite a show at the September 17 th commission meeting. It had all the makings of a TV show and if it was not so disheartening that this is our city, it would have been quite entertaining. There were two main points of interest during the meeting.   The first point was the purchase of the old bank at the corner of High and Main from the CCIA for a new municipal court. The price tag is $1 million with an additional $500,000 for renovations and $100,000 for bonding fees. Yes, another $1.6 million spending spree by Team Santiago. Mr. Pepitone stated something had to be done, the cost is only $1 million and bonds are cheap. Did he research other possibilities? - NO. Did he get an appraisal for the building – NO.   He relied on the appraisal from the CCIA. This is not looking out for the taxpayer. Was the lack of parking considered? Was the fact that this location is a main entrance to the city and will affect High Street. How prisoners ...

Team Santiago is set to spend over $1.6 million of taxpayers money at the commission meeting on September 17 th .   When will their reckless spending end? First Team Santiago will vote to pay the Wheaton property developer, New Yorker Anthony DeSantis $125,000. The Wheaton property has been in disrepair for years sitting at the entrance to the city of Millville. It is the first impression anyone gets when entering the city. GGI, the owner of the Wheaton property, in addition to not repaying money borrowed from the City, didn’t pay its taxes for years cheating the city out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 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. The citizens of Millville deserve to hear the explanation for their collective inaction. When the City got a new Director of Revenue and Finance, the city began foreclosure proceedings in an effo...

At the recent commission meeting, NJ Motorsports Park opted again not to give their presentation on why they deserve a tax break extension. Supposedly they need more time to make their case. Was Team Santiago actually considering this PILOT without a case being made for it?  Both Mr. Pepitone and Mr. Cooper thanked the citizens for explaining the NJ Motorsports PILOT extension, as they did not understand it. Team Santiago had a month to research the PILOT between meetings and they were going to vote on the PILOT extension that night. How could they vote on something that would cost the taxpayers hundred of thousands of dollars if they did not understand it? Mr. Parent said the CFO would explain the money implications of the NJ Motorsports Park PILOT as he did not understand it.  How can Mr. Parent not understand the PILOT when he approved the original PILOT back in 2005 and he was about to vote on an extension to the PILOT? This is the commissioner who endles...