Remarks of Mayor Joseph M. DiBella

Township of Howell

January 1, 2005  

Friends, Family, US Attorney Christie, Father Williams, People of Howell Township; let me first extend my best wishes for the New Year. I stand before you today truly grateful for this opportunity to serve as your Mayor. I am humbled by your vote of confidence and understand and respect the awesome responsibility that comes with this office. I am also excited, energized and ready to serve all of the people of Howell Township. I have been fortunate to serve in positions previously but I have never been as proud or enthused as I am to be your Mayor.

It’s been said that a leader is someone that know where they are going and has the capacity to convince others to go with them. I’m pleased to report I have a crystal clear vision of where we need to take our community and I believe I have the wherewithal and discipline necessary to build support and consensus around this vision. So let me take a few moments to share with you some of the things I plan on doing as Mayor. These are bedrock principles that Councilperson Schomaker and I campaigned on and I’m committed to seeing them through.

·        First, we’ll pass a series of sweeping ethics and campaign finance reform measures that will be the envy of the state. From a non nonsense nepotism ban to professional biding for all appointments, we’ll have a model system that will send a message that Howell Township is accountable to the highest levels of professional integrity.

·        I believe we need an independent audit of every township department to identify areas where we can improve process, gain efficiencies and reduce cost. I’ll be asking the council to secure budget dollars in 2005 for this top to bottom process and reengineering audit. This is not a condemnation of today’s operation. It is merely an acknowledgement that we have an obligation to constantly evaluate the way we do business and to take advantage of any opportunities to gain efficiencies and reduce the size and cost of government.

·        We’ll continue our ambitious campaign to repair the roadways and infrastructure all across our community. Over the past two years we have begun an aggressive program of long overdue repairs and repaving and we’ll continue this indefinitely. Plus we’ll have a documented blueprint for road repairs to ensure we an on going process for evaluation and rehabilitation.

·        I’ll be introducing the Mayor’s A.C.C.T. Program – this stands for “Accountability, Compassion, Commitment and Teamwork” for Howell. In cooperation with our manager, this new program will be introduced across all township departments in an effort to demonstrate our unparalleled commitment to world class customer service.  We’ll be installing suggestion boxes across each township building, sending our satisfaction surveys to gauge our customer’s impression of our services, creating an employee of the month program and a series of other venues designed to create an atmosphere of placing the customer first.  In my view, residents, business owners and even visitors are customers. We’ll view each as such and live by the golden rule that of we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will. We’ll use the A.C.C.T program as the vehicle to dramatically change and improve the services we deliver to our customers and its my expectation that our commitment to service will make us the envy of municipalities across the state.

·        We’re going to completely overhaul the township web site in an effort to improve the services we deliver to our customers. Today you can do nearly anything on line, from bank transactions to buying a car. Yet government has not yet embraced these technological tools that have revolutionized business and commerce similar to a new industrial age. We have an obligation to embrace this technology and leverage it to make government more accessible and easy to use. While we have made great progress over the past 2 years, we have much more to do and this will be done.

Similarly, I’m going to ask the council to charter a study to evaluate how we can better integrate technology across all departments in the municipality.  For example, filing cabinets need to be replaced with optical scanners and local access networks, all of which in the long run will reduce cost, drive efficiencies and improve customer service. These are necessary investments that must be done to ensure we’re positioned to deliver the best, most cost effective service to customers.

·        All over town we continue to realize the pains of being a growing community. Specifically, traffic safety continues to dominate our agenda. I’m going to ask the Council to direct the Manager to work with the Police Department to see what additional measures we can take to reduce the speeding problems we have all over the town. We have obligation to protect every resident, especially our young people and I’ll spend every ounce of energy I have to slow people down and make our roadways safe.

·        We also great many decisions to make regarding the physical plant of the community. We have buildings across the township in desperate need of significant and costly repair. In many respects, we have simply outgrown our present accommodations. For too long these significant issues have been overlooked. They can be overlooked no more. This building for example needs massive repairs, as does the Engineering Building. We’ll complete an exhaustive process of determining our communities’ needs for today and into the future and together we’ll make informed business decisions about the best way to position the community for the next 100 years.

Accordingly, I’ll be asking the Council to appoint a Blue Ribbon Committee to assist in the evaluation of our needs and to ensure we have input from all corners and constitutes groups in the community.

·        Smart business development will remain one of our centerpiece objectives. We’ll continue the development of the Rout 9 corridor and consider new alternatives to the retail ratables that while desirable, bring significant traffic and congestion. Plus, we’ll revisit our plans for Rout 33 to ensure that we have an economically viable plan to maximize this area’s complete potential. While these are sensitive areas, we have an obligation to our customers to pursue every remedy available to reduce the tax burden on Howell families and the right, we’ll crafted commercial development and revitalization of this area can help us in this regard.

·        Open Space and Farmland preservation – these two initiatives remain the centerpiece of all we do. We’ll continue to aggressively preserve farmland across our community in an effort to curb sprawl and preserve the rural beauty of our community. We have made great strides in this area and we’ll continue to do so in 2005 and beyond. Plus, we continue to make progress in the acquisition of 300 acres of pristine land right in the heart of our community. The Harms/Pinnacle property is the crown jewel of our open space strategy and will represent a historic preservation effort for our community that will be remembered 100 years from now for its significance to our community.

How will we accomplish these objectives? By working as a team and being respectful of each other, the process and this great democracy. We will not always agree, but as Mayor I’ll see to it that we can use this chamber as a melting pot for ideas, debate and discussion. In addition, we’ll accomplish these objectives because we have an extraordinary team of council members. I am truly blessed to be working with Cynthia Schomaker, Peter Tobasco and Juan Malave. These are three of the finest, most hard working public servants I have ever known. And together, working as a team and listening to our customers, we can and will accomplish great things for Howell Township.

As you look around this room, many of you will notice the fresh new paint and the new motivational pictures. These are symbols of the continuing changes we are making as a community. The characteristics mentioned in these pictures embody the spirit and nature of the atmosphere we are working to create. They also symbolize the endless opportunities we have in this community to accomplish great things – and we will.

As Mayor, I’ll strive to live up to these standards every day. I plan to work hard to restore people’s faith in government and the character and integrity of their leaders. I hope to work with young people to inspire them to get involved in public service and to demonstrate to them the importance, honor and nobility of public service.  My grandparent’s generation has been rightfully coined the “greatest generation” – I plan to do my part to help my generation live up to their high standards.

In closing I promise that I’ll work hard to represent all of the people of Howell Township. I’ll make decisions based on what I believe will be in the entire communities best interest. I’ll vote with my mind and my heart and I’ll do all I can to help any member of our community, day or night.

My priorities remain family first. And I’d be remiss if I did not acknowledge my loving wife Lisa for her endless support and love. She sacrifices a great deal due to my line of work and I could never do any of this without her help and support. To my children for their understanding and the love and joy they bring to me. I so want them to know that I do this to make our community better for them, for their generation and to make them proud of their Dad. I love them both very much. To may family for always being there for me, through thick and thin and to my parents for raising me with the right values that guide me in all I do.

In closing, I want to also ask that we all remember the brave men and women of our armed forces that are serving this great country overseas. Their contributions and bravery are an inspiration to us all. We’re grateful for their service, their heroism and their patriotism and we pray that our efforts as the greatest democracy in the history of the world will serve as a guiding light across the globe.

So on this day and every day, may God Bless America and May God Bless Howell Township. Thank you.