'Donut' may need new hole
Allentown discusses pulling out of shared services with U.F.
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - Deputy Mayor William Miscoski hasn't minced any words at recent Township Committee meetings when it comes to neighboring Allentown.

Miscoski has said that the borough "doesn't pay a nickel" for services it shares with Upper Freehold Township. He alleged that Allentown does not spend anything on recreation or the Allentown/Upper Freehold Municipal Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, commonly known as the Drug Alliance.

"Allentown residents should be ashamed of themselves for what their mayor and council do," Miscoski said.

Allentown provided office space and all in-kind matching expenses for the Drug Alliance for 15 years before the alliance moved its offices to Upper Freehold in December 2006, according to a memo from Allentown Chief Financial Officer Robert Benick.

Benick also stated in the memo that former full-time alliance coordinators did not receive health benefits, "since it was understood that the towns could not afford the cost of the program." However, Benick said, Upper Freehold granted benefits to the alliance's current coordinator, Jason Victor, who was hired last year.

Upper Freehold officials never discussed the benefits with Benick, nor whether Allentown would pay part of their cost, according to Benick's memo.

Miscoski said the Upper Freehold Township Committee decided to pay for the alliance coordinator's benefits because the alliance desperately needed a coordinator.

The township pays approximately $13,200 for the benefits, according to Upper Freehold Chief Financial Officer Dianne Kelly.

Upper Freehold officials had drafted an interlocal agreement stating that Allentown should pay half the cost of the benefits. The township's business administrator, Barbara Bascom, said a draft of the agreement had been sent to the borough.

Allentown Mayor Stuart Fierstein said on July 30 that he had not received a copy of the draft. He also said that Allentown has already passed its budget and did not appropriate any money for the coordinator's benefits.

Fierstein added that when Allentown served as the lead community for the Drug Alliance, it paid to have a hot line, which Upper Freehold later disconnected without notifying the borough. He said that now when people in a crisis need the help of the Drug Alliance, they have to call the township's offices and dial the coordinator's extension during business hours. Otherwise, Fierstein said, callers get a recording referring them to 911.

"There's no way the Drug Alliance should be putting kids in harm's way to deal with the police," Fierstein said.

Bascom said that even when the alliance had its own phone number, calls went to an answering machine when no one was in the office. She said Upper Freehold currently uses the same system.

Fierstein said that at one time, Monmouth County wanted Millstone to partner with Allentown and Upper Freehold in the Drug Alliance, which would have provided for more grant money. However, Fierstein said that Miscoski and Sal Diecidue, who was mayor at that time, did not want Millstone in the alliance.

According to Miscoski, Drug Alliance board members decided not to have Millstone join the alliance. He said he and Diecidue did not make that decision.

Miscoski said that at the time the county wanted one person to serve as the alliance's coordinator and then-coordinator Helen Varvi said she could not handle all three towns.

Miscoski also alleged that the Drug Alliance fell short in its fundraising two years in a row. He said Upper Freehold appropriated $4,000 each year to make up the differences.

At the Aug. 2 Township Committee meeting, Diecidue, who is chairman of the Drug Alliance, said that if Allentown were to withdraw from the alliance, the organization would lose $22,000 in grant funding.

As for the recreation Miscoski alleged Allentown does not pay for, Fierstein said the borough had its own recreation commission from 1976 to 2005. During that time, he said, Allentown ran summer camps, basketball leagues and other activities for children in both municipalities, and that most of the kids participating in those programs were from Upper Freehold.

Fierstein said that the borough continues to hold events such as fishing contests at the lake and movie nights in Heritage Park for all local communities. However, he said that in 2005 Upper Freehold expressed a desire to take control of the borough's Recreation Commission and recreational programs, according to Fierstein.

"We discussed it as a governing body and, if the Recreation Commission was in agreement and could better serve the kids of both communities, we would do that," Fierstein said.

With Allentown's consent, Upper Freehold took charge of the commission's structure, programs and equipment, which amounted to more than $3,000, according to Fierstein.

Miscoski, who said he has been involved with recreation issues in the area for all 15 years he has served on the Township Committee, said, "Allentown has $3,000 invested? Whoop-de-do."

Miscoski and Fierstein also butted heads over a Byron Johnson Park issue. While Fierstein said that Allentown did not object to using some of its acreage for the creation of the park because "we understood that it benefits recreation for kids overall," Miscoski alleged that the borough held the park project up for three years since it wanted either the township or the county to pay for the property.

Miscoski said Upper Freehold built two area parks used by both communities at a cost of $2 million. He said some of the money came from grants and an agreement with the developer that built the Four Seasons and Heritage Green housing developments.

Miscoski also said that Upper Freehold spends at least $15,000 per year on recreation even though all leagues do their own fundraising.

Fierstein described Allentown as the downtown hub for Upper Freehold and also referred to the borough as "the hole in the donut."

"We don't want to encourage friction between either community's residents," Fierstein said, but then went on to say that he has found a more open and willing environment for shared services in neighboring Washington Township.

"We need to look at working with neighbors and discussing it as a work in progress," he said.