Letters: Upset with Mount Ephraim Commissioners for Cutbacks, Tax Increases & Spending Plans

I am a forty year old lifelong resident of Mt. Ephraim and I am very displeased in the state of our town.  In recent days I have heard of tax increases, employee layoffs and unnecessary money spending being conducted by our leaders.  There are a few issues that concern me and I feel need to be addressed and have not.  I feel that thru this forum bringing these issues to light, maybe the people in charge will be able to provide the answers that I ( along with the rest of the residents) want and deserve.

 

The first issue that I would like to address is an issue that was first brought to the town's attention in the December 2007 borough meeting.  At that meeting, borough commissioners stood in front of the residents who were in attendance and stated that due to the retirement of two borough police officers that two new officers were going to be hired to replace them.  Not only were they going to hire two officers, but due to the rising workload and the overall need for more officers, that a third officer was going to be hired to help supplement the police departments' workload.  It was brought to my attention that this third officer did not have what it takes to be a police officer and quit after one day. Also to my knowledge, that officer was never replaced, why is that?  If the need for a third officer was so great in December, what has happened in the past three months to make that not true?  Crime has not been eradicated as far as I know.  If that position was so needed in December then why wasn't it filled when the person hired to fill that spot quit?  Was that third position really needed or was it just a position for the family member of a political supporter?  If the latter was true, then why tell the residents that the position is to help assist in preventing crime.  I hope that half truths and lies are not the way the commissioners do business in our town.

 

Another issue that has come to light from Gov. Corzine's budget proposal is that the town is in dire straits financially.  The money crunch is so dire that one police officer has been laid off and from what I hear one court clerk, one borough clerk and at least one public works employee will also be laid off.  The one police officer that was laid off being one of the two hired to replace the retiring officers.  Now to my count the police department is down two officers to combat all that crime that was portrayed to us in the December meeting!  Town safety doesn't seem to be a forefront concern of these commissioners.

 

To add to the problem, not only is the borough laying off four people who depend on these jobs as their main source of income and benefits, but they are floating a three million dollar bond so the fire department came build a new station.  A three million dollar loan for a volunteer fire department that will only be occupied fifty percent of the time!  The reason for the building: Because the fire department can't fit all three of their fire trucks in the same building.  I don't feel that a town that has to lay off four borough employees to save money should be loaning a volunteer fire department three million dollars for a new building.  Here is a better solution, sell one of the fire trucks and the spare building to offset the financial burden that the taxpayers have to assume.  Seriously, when was the last time you saw all three fire trucks on the scene at the same time anyway?  If the building was to encompass the fire department, the police department and the ambulance squad, then I can see the town spending the money.  This way the town would receive a state of the art building to house all of its emergency services.  If anyone has been to the police department lately, they would know the out dated conditions that the police work in everyday.  I went there to pick up a police report recently and found that they don't even have any exterior windows for fresh air.  My cell phone didn't even work because the police station is located in the basement of the borough hall.

 

I have lived in this town for over forty years, and I have to say that I am very disappointed in the state affairs that have transpired and the priority use of funds by our commissioners.  I hope this letter receives serious discussion and consideration for change, and hopefully opens the eyes of people who don't know what's going on here.

 

To the commissioners I say please don't tell us residents what you think we want to hear and tell us the truth.  The residents and employees of Mt. Ephraim deserve the truth and deserve responsible spending of our money!

 

Sincerely,

One Concerned Resident

Comments

[Bill Bates, Mount Ephraim correspondent]

Again, The Mount Ephraim Board of Commissioner's meetings are held the first Thursday of the month at 8:00 pm in the borough hall meeting room. That is the BEST PLACE TO ASK QUESTIONS AND GET ANSWERS to all "concerns" from both borough employees and borough residents.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 4, 2008 at 8:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Respectfully,
Bill Bates
Mount Ephraim News Correspondent
Gloucester City News / Cleary's Notebook

[Jeff]

Well, Mr. Citizen, I guess you've figured me out. I seem to fit neatly in the category where you placed me. I am stereotyped, characterized, standardized, classified, grouped, and always typical. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true.. I can never you out. From birth you teach your children that I'm the boogeyman and then you're shocked when they identify with my traditional enemy, THE CRIMINAL. You accuse me of coddling juveniles until I catch your kid doing wrong. You take an hour for lunch and several coffee breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer if you catch me having just one cup. You pride yourself on your polished manners, but think nothing of disrupting my meals with your troubles. You raise hell with the guy who cuts you off in traffic, but let me catch you doing the same thing and I'm picking on you. You know all the traffic laws, but you've never gotten a single ticket you deserved. You shout "FOUL!" if you see me driving too fast to an emergency call, but raise hell if I take more than ten seconds to respond to your call. You call it part of my job if someone strikes me, but it's police brutality if I strike back. You would not think of telling your dentist how to pull a badly-decayed tooth, or your doctor how to take out your appendix, but are always willing to give me a few pointers on the law. You talk to me in a manner that would assure a bloody nose from anyone else, but expect me to take it without batting an eye. You cry "Something has got to be done about the crime!" but you can't be bothered with getting involved. You have no use for me at all, but of course it's O.K. if I change a flat for your wife, or deliver your child in the back seat of my radio car on the way to the hospital, or save your son's life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, or work many hours looking for your lost daughter. So, Mr. Citizen, you stand there on your soapbox and rant and rave about the way I do my job, calling me every name in the book, but never stopping to think that your property, your family, or maybe even your life depends on me or one of my buddies. Yes, Mr. Citizen, it's me, the lousy cop!

[Ingrateful1]

Etc.;

I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. Mepri and Johnny Deppri. Ciao

[Just Wondering]

Buzzzzzz Offffff,

Is tollerated something you pay when you're crossing over a bridge?

[Etc.]

Ingratful1

News/Sports/Commentary for South Jersey & Philadelphia area is what is written under the name ClearysNotebook at the top of the page. No mention of Gloucester City owning this website. As always you try to mislead the readers with half truths. I bet your real name is Gorman?

Ingratful1
I've tollerated many of your comments. I don't remember ever seeing anything you wrote that showed any intelligence including your post on our issue. Buzzzzzz Offffff.

[Ingrateful1]

Yeah, hi. Is there any way you Mt. Ephraim people can get your own web site? This is realllllllllllly boring most of us. I mean, what are there about 114 people who live there? Why don't ya all have a wrestlemania and get it over with. mmmmmmmmkthanskbye

All Gossip
You are absolutely wrong when you say we should not complain about entities that protect our community. Taxpayers have an absolute right to expect proper and efficient performance from all of its employees. You don't have to be the Mayor to correct problems such as a complete segment of its workforce leaving town to eat a dinner we are paying for. Police like to equate themselves with the military. With that in mind such a practice would be dereliction of duty and desertion of an assigned post.

It is no coincidence that all Mount Ephraim police and Gloucester police meet regularly at Gaetanno's in Brooklawn. They appear to thoughly enjoy an hour to hour and a half of comaraderie. What is there to worry about? Lindenwold dispatch will call them if some work pops up. They will be out of the resturant in a matter of minutes and back in town in 5 minutes. What's the big deal if minutes aren't important to save a life or protect our property.

We pay for good performance and we have a right to expect it from the workforce and the supervisors. RIGHT CHIEF!!! RIGHT MAYOR!!! After all isn't that what the work force says it has been providing when they ask for an increase in salary and benefits?

Stop in at Gaetanno's instead of O'Hara's if you want to break up a wrongful practice and improve public safety.

Get Takeout

[ITS ALL GOSSIP]

GROW UP. NO GOSSIP SHOULD BE TOLERATED. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND FIRE DEPARTMENT ARE JOBS THAT PROTECT THE COMMUNITY. NO JOB IS PERFECT. SHOW ME A JOB THAT HAS NO PROBLEMS AND WORKS FREELY TO THE WAY YOU WANT IT. THERE ARE RULES AND REGULATIONS TO EVERY JOB. SOMEONE HAS TO BE BOSS AND SOMEONE ALWAYS THINKS THEY CAN BE BETTER THAN THE BOSS. RESIDENTS SHOULD NOT BE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE ENTITIES THAT PROTECT THEM. SOME PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN STAND ON STREET CORNERS AND GOSSIP ABOUT THE JOBS THAT SHOULD BE DONE BETTER. GET A LIFE. IF YOU CAN DO BETTER RUN FOR MAYOR. YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR JOB AND THE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT WILL WORRY ABOUT THEIR JOB. PROTECTING YOU!!!!!!!

[concerned]

For your information about the Chief's car. Get your information straight before you talk. That was his personal family car owned and titled to him for five years until he decided to donate it to the station so that he didn't have to spend any of the boroughs money to order one. There is not one police station that the Chief does not have their own car. Most Chief's are given brand new vehicles. There are many companies out there that the management or superiors are given their own cars. Why trash the police department. The Fire department also has duty cars. If you had the chance to get your own car Im sure that you wouldn't turn it down. As far as the Captain and the Sgt. having their own vehicle it is a liability to respond to calls in your own vehicles. Learn about Law enforcement before you judge the rules and regs of a police department. Police are on-call 24/7. As far as the number of vehicles if you had to run a fleet of vehicles the more vehicles you have in rotation the more flexibility you have for the cars to last longer. Most police cars only last two years. The unmarked cars are more than eight years old. So, in reality I believe they should be getting new vehicles to lower the cost of maintaining an older fleet. Also, there is a law out there that allows the police to confiscate bad guys vehicles. So if you see fifty cars in the parking lot watch what you say because that is the police out there being productive and proactive and saving the tax payers a lot of money. Also running motor vehicle checks brings money into the Borough. Can't do that with only nine guys. The fire department cant do that. Also, I am friends with a lot of the officers and I know for sure that the Chief is in town whether he is working at the station or spending time with his children with borough residents. He has come in on weekends and drove around to keep active with what is going on in town. Not like the previous Chief getting paid 80k to play solitaire on the computer and not even know the current laws. The Sgt. and Acting Capt. ran the department. The Chief is in Mount Ephraim more than he is at home. As far as three guys to a shift from what I hear one is a supervisor that works different hours than the other two. That way there is always supervision and if someone calls out sick there will always be a two man shift. Also if there is an arrest then there is always someone on the street. But after the lay off that is not possible. My uncle is a police officer in a big town and they have clerks that do all their paperwork for them so that the officers never leave the street. Maybe we should suggest that to the Mayor. I have seen how the police department has been managed in the past and I believe this group of officers do not even come close to being paid what they are worth. What if with all this going on the police department decided not to answer any calls how would you feel if that was your child choking or your mother having a stroke or your wife calling you saying she is being raped by the sex offender living next door that the police arent good enough to get rid of. Remember the police are always the first to respond to a call. Who cares if they are coming from Wa Wa, I know they will be there if I need them. I know I get an hour for lunch and breaks and sometimes only work so many hours out of an eight hour day. Try working with idiots out on the street for 12 hours and having to always be on your toes. And don't have a bad day because you never know what your next call could be. I believe that the Police and the Fire Department deserve the respect for the jobs that they do. They are two separate departments that can not be compared. If you think you have it bad now the Police and the fire department could disman and you will have to wait for another department or State Police to arrive to your BECK and CALL.

[EphRUM Neighbor]

I do not belong to your fire station and are not nocking them. 500 calls a year for a volunteer station seems busy to me. Those guys seem like a great bunch of firemen from what i always read in the Gloucester City News, I can't say the same about the firemen in my town. Your town firemen run circles around what mine does. You should be proud of that, oh wait, thats right, like 12 cops out of your 15 DONT LIVE in town, so why would they care? Wanna save money, let the Chief and Captain drive their own cars to work and pick up the BORO VEHICLES when they get to Mount Ephraim, and drive their own vehicles home at night. How much money do they burn in fuel driving 11 towns over to go home at night. I bet you they at least fill up two/three times a week. There could be a bit of savings a month.

I have just observed as a neighboring resident of M E and in the Law Enforcement field myself, it cracks me up to think that your little town of less then one square mile has three cops on at once! For what??? Please elaborate to me what "crimes" have occured in the past 6 months in town??? I would really love to know and hear a break down. Ok, other then the budget for a disturbance on the weekends and the CVS calls for a shoplifter every 9 days, please enlighten me!

I see one thing between the police and fire. Fire is VOLUNTEER and Police is PAID WITH TAX DOLLARS. So, when looking at it from this standpoint, it comes down to is it justifiable or not to have 3 officers on at once and what exactly are they doing. Weekends could be an exception, I could see having three cops on Friday and Saturday night. I would love to know how many tickets are written on an average 12 hour shift between three officers. Do you or can you supply that information for me? More tickets = More income!!! I bet you those numbers aren't high.

Oh ya, since were talkin about police, Billy Errigo is in Brooklawn for a little over 2 years, leaves and goes to Mount Ephraim and becomes a Sgt. in three months, how does that work??? Just curious. I had the pleasure of listening to one of your guys b*#ch at the bar one night.

And if the "boys" are sitting at the firehouse and having a few cigars, good for them, if the bell goes off for a call, they will be that much closer to the station. Remember...THERE VOLUNTEER and THEIR TAX DOLLARS are paying for all three of you TO TAKE BREAKS TOGETHER AND GO OUT OF TOWN FOR DINNER. Can't be too much crime if you guys can afford to do that every shift or maybe just bad mismanagment!

[Bam Bam Bigalo]

Just curious,

How is it that everyone and their mother stops in Wawa for a cup of coffee at least once a day and that's fine but a cop goes in for a cup and he is loafing on the job. Everyone in any job gets coffee breaks except cops? Who do these cops think they are? They work a 12 hour shift and they want a meal break and a coffee break once in a while! What are they gonna want next, union representation. GET REAL MT. EPHRAIM. You people don't realize how good you have it. You think you have too many cops for the amount of calls you have. It is what these cops do in between the calls that keeps the crime down in your little hamlet. Use a little common sense here. You think crime prevention is accomplished by responding to calls about things that already happened? If you are that ignorant than get rid of all the cops except for the Chief (Sheriff Taylor) and the Captain (Barney Fife). Barney can handle the calls during the day and Sheriff Taylor can be reached at home 24/7 if you need him. Just ring up Sara on the switchboard. Aunt Bee can also prepare the meals for the prisoners. GOOD LUCK!

[I Protect U]

Justifiable! The police department should use the math that the fire department uses for its end of year report. 492 fire department jobs( i'll give you a couple to get you to 500) at 5,600 man hours. According to fire math, the police department would then have had 6,000 jobs at like 67,200 man hours. With this math the police department should get bunk rooms so the guys can rest while they drink their wawa coffee. Just because you sit at the fire house doesn't mean you are doing anything productive. Have another cigar boys.

[EphRUM Neighbor]

Police can't justify 3 cops on at once. If there are serious issues in M E wouldn't it make sense to let 2 go on break or dinner n keep at least 1 car on the street instead of ALWAYS being at WaWa or dining OUT OF TOWN???

There is no justification for 3 cops on every shift. At least our town can clearly justify calls to officers.

With the "call break down" provided below, less then 1 call n hour is justifiable.

I heard that the firemen tried to get it as an emergency complex for all, but the idiotic Police Chief had in the "plans" a gun rang in the basement n some other rediculous thing...no wonder why those original plans fell thru???

[One Concerned Resident]

It seems some are just trying to draw the main focus of my original message away from what my real concern was, and make it into a he said, she said battle. The main focus of the message was why are the commissioners giving a three million dollar loan to the volunteer fire department for a new building that will be used 50% of the time when full time/ regularly scheduled(ambulance) departments work in an outdated mess? I feel that ALL the emergency services deserve to work in a modern work environment. In addition, the person who wrote that the police department doesn't do as much as the fire department is ridiculous. How can you say that a department that volunteer's their FREE time does more for the community then a department that is there 24/7, that is insane. I appreciate all the work that every department does but I don't feel that a town loan should favor one department over another. Also the person who gave the stat for the police department ONLY having 518 "jobs" last month, that exceeds the number of jobs that the fire deparmtent had ALL of last year (check the fire department's website, it says right on there that there 2007 total calls were like 492 including all drills and "other functions". Please pass this message around to everyone you know who lives in this neighborhood they should all know and have an oppinion on this matter.

[Can't Fool Us]

Dear Author M.E U r obviously an adult attempting to pass yourself off as a child. Your deceitfulness is transparent and unnecessary. Hanna Montana apeals to second thru sixth graders. A child that age does not possess the cognitive ability to communicate and comprehend what you wrote in your letter. Share your thoughts, ideas , and comments, and do it maturely. Don't add a blemish to Mt. Ephraim's concerns.

The original post asked questions and asked for answers. If the first post was that of a city official it is clear they want to know who the writer is and then they can tailor the answer to the requestor rather than explain fully what they are doing. My grandfather says that is how politicians keep the taxpayers in the dark. My mom and dad think the original post reflects their concerns but feel as though they would be attacked rather than receive answers if they participated in this forum. At school our teachers claim this behavior is called “bullying”.

If you have been reading the writings of the Gloucester people you can only conclude the town is controlled by the bullies. It sounds like many of them are cops and firemen. Some of them claim to be. But it is pretty clear they can’t even agree on the time of day. They would rather attack each other.

My grandfather said Gloucester was always a poor town but the people were nice. My parents and grandparents say their politicians ruined their town and they don’t want to see the same things happen here. I’ve been over there on my bike with my girlfriend and it sure doesn’t look very nice to me.

If we act like them won’t we be like them? I’m interested in Hanna Montana right now but I am also interested in growing up and living in Mount Ephraim when I am on my own.

M.E.

[Ken from (OH! Hara's Pub)]

On April 4th, after the meeting come up to Oh! Hara's Pub. Thursday is $2 domestic pints and 25 cent wings. I hope after the meeting all the questions are answered,and all the problems are rehashed. Happy Easter to all

[johnny chimpo]

Let me start off by saying that the following guys are good friends of mine : Ronnie the rapist, Johnny the drug dealer, and Ricky the Robber. Just because their names Insinuate that they are bad people they really are not. Thank you for your time. And just so you guys know i will testify on your behalf if you guys wish to bring litigation to the man who is slandering your good name.

[call me john]

Bill,
You say your ties to the community are simple. I must be a little slow, other then you being employed by the Boro, what do you do for the community? Do you live here? Do you coach any Youth sports teams? Do you volunteer any of your spare time to the Boro of Mt. Ephraim? Please enlighten the citizens.

Until you answer these questions

[That was easy]

Am I wrong, or did this cop just threaten every one who disagrees with him? You cannot really be a police officer. I think you are trying to set up this Errigo guy. By the way, I've never even heard of him until now.

[curious]

M.E.,
What do you mean by gloucester looking like idiots when presented with valid concerns? I must have missed something.

[Bill Too]

I think I addressed the issue, asked some relevant questions, and pointed out the fact that "Bill" is obviously not the Mount Ephraim police officer that he claims to be. What is your problem with Gloucester people?

Bill, Bill Too, John
Address the issue. Present some new or enlightening facts or information. Otherwise we are going to make ourselves look like idiots like the people from Gloucester did when they presented valid concerns. Especially you John.
M.E.

[Call me John]

Bill,
What ties do you have in this Community?

[Call me Johm]

Bill (the first one),
Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah. "I am sure not afraid to let my identity be known". Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah. What was your name again? Bill? Wow, that says alot. I work for the Police Department too, my name is John!

[Bill Too]

If you really are a police officer, what is your last name? What kind of statistics does the police department have? How many jobs do you respond to per officer? The amount of police officers we have has nothing to do with the safety of the boro. Look at Camden City, they can have 1,000,000 police officers on the street and it will still be the deadliest town in America and I would still never live there. You are "sure not afraid to identify" yourself yet you sign your post as Bill. Well so am I going to sign my name as Bill and once you post your identity as a police officer that can be verified, I will consider your position as just another person posing as someone he/she is not!!!!

[The last person you should be bashing]

I was told not to make this a Police vs. Fire issue and I will respect that order but it takes two to avoid it.
I have had nothing but respect for the members of our Fire Department and it's even more disheartening (above and beyond the loss of one of our men), to see that it comes down to this. I am indeed a member of the Police Department and while I did not write the above post, I am sure not afraid to let my identity be known. The truth is, it's pointless to hide behind a keyboard and rant, rave and make fact less comments that leave salty tastes in everyone's mouths. We can bitch and moan and call each other names or we can stand up like men and fix the problem at the same time making our community a better place to live and work.

There is no benefit to anyone in this community to the laying off of any of our employees. None of the paid departments in this town run with a surplus of positions and all of the positions that are now staffed are needed to keep this town running the way it does. I have faith in our leadership and at this point I am confident with the fact that if Corzine's plan goes through, the layoffs are unfortunate but needed. However, I have made my opinion of the renovated fire building known to the Official that is in charge of it. That's all I can do and that's all I will do.

Now, if we're going to act like children and add insult to injury by saying things like "there's always unemployment," and making comments like the Fire Depatarment does everything and the Police Department does nothing, I will have no part of it. The bottom line is that your kids can safely walk down the street every day without being approached by drug dealers and beggars, because we make it that way. You can feel safe in your home at night and sleep confident because we patrol your streets. Don't forget my friend, you are 2 doors down from the "Deadliest City in the Nation," and if you think that cancer is automatically stopped at the boarder, you’re sadly mistaken. YOUR men and woman of this Police Department take pride in their jobs and in this town and it's absolutely a shame for you to run them into the dirt as if they mean nothing to you.

I will leave you with this. Be careful what you wish for. You can make us go away, or reduce our man power to nil, but the bottom line is that Ronnie the rapist, Johnny the drug dealer, Ricky the Robber and just about every other degenerate member of our society are the ONLY people that will benefit in the end. Places like White Ave (just as an example) may not be so safe when your Police Department is two or three men down.

If you'd like to continue this discussion, you know where to find me. I'd suggest just letting sleeping dog's lie however, and we can move on to more pressing matters in our comminuty, like finding a way to keep it ours.

Bill

Why does the town of Mount Ephraim need three cops on at once? My father said that they have always had 2 cops on duty previously. They say the third cop was to "keep the crime down"??? Is there that much crime in Mount Ephraim? If there is, it is never in the papers.

According to the police report posted on here...Last month the Mount Ephraim Police had 518 calls, divide that by 29 days and that comes out to 18 calls a day. There is 24 hours in a day. That averages to LESS THEN 1 call an hour. You need 3 cops for that??? There seems to be no justification for the third cop. Why did they need to hire three to replace two that retired must be the Chief's math skills.

All of the volunteers in Mount Ephraim always seem to be doing something productive and good for the town...you have the CERT Team that does various functions for the borough. The fire station, what don't they do? There is always news every month of them doing something productive...they are the only volunteer organization that runs a parade for the town for Christmas and do a fine job at it. I have family that comes 30 minutes away to see the parade each year. I remember seeing an article about the firemen reading to the school kids, they go to schools for prevention (my kids are always excited to see the fire trucks pull up...as I hear all about what they learned from the firemen after school), recently my sister was telling me they came to her house a week after there was a fire three blocks down, to check their smoke detectors and make sure they were mounted in the right places, I am sure there are things that they do that I would be impressed with that I don't even know about. I ride past the Bell Road building 2 times a week to take my daughter to class at night and they are always out doing something with the trucks, they seem to keep up on their drilling. They seem to have a lot of pride and do a good job at what they do.

I am sure that the only reason they are getting a loan for a new station isn’t to have 3 trucks together. That was just a ridiculous comment. I am sure they are a lot smarter then that and there must be a justifiable reason. I remember my father telling me stories about that one fire station and that building was there years ago. Maybe it is an old building and is continuously in need of repairs? Maybe they have more members then they do room? Whatever the reason, I am sure it is justifiable.

All of the facts are not on the table as the article briefly touched on the subject. I am sure there will be more news to come in the paper or from the town meetings the firemen will be having...

I am wondering where employee layoffs has come from as I have not seen anything in writing about that. The "One Concerned Resident" I presume is a borough employee and has gotten that information from the inside.

I did not see anything about the rise in taxes as that was the mayor’s last resort. If it comes down to raising taxes or laying off employees...there is always unemployment.

Mount Ephraim Board of Commissioner's meetings are held the first Thursday of the month at 8:00 pm in the borough hall meeting room. That is the best place to ask/get answers to your "concerns".

The next meeting will be held on Thursday April 4, 2008 at 8:00 pm.