I don’t think that anyone can argue that we are a divided community.  The obvious divisions are between the Active Adult Communities and those residing in single family homes, but there are other divisions that run along ethnic and religious lines.  Those differences can also be our strengths.  Those differences can make us stronger if we look at it from a positive perspective and embark upon the task of creating one Monroe where there is interaction, respect and even friendship.  Many complain about the walls that bar us from the “Senior Communities”, but those are not walls that cannot be scaled.  How?  Make a friend.  Some of my closest friends reside in the Senior communities.  They invite me in and I am easily able to enter.   We have good friends in nearly every community, both gated and ungated.  Chirag Bhagat is an Indian American and his religion is Hindu. Stanley Edelman retired and is Jewish and lives in Greenbriar.  I am an Italian American and I am a Catholic.  Our vision is to move Monroe Forward by bridging those gaps through association and a common effort.   We can create one vibrant Monroe but it will take some work.

Our Plan:  We are going to create a Community Commission. That commission will be in charge of having meetings with representatives of all communities to meet and discuss issues, create events and come up with solutions. The Mayor and a Councilperson will also be on that commission. They will report back to the Council.

That commission will also run our Volunteer Initiative. That initiative will have a page on the township page and a Facebook page. Community members will be able to sign up and volunteer to help others in the community. The Volunteer Initiative will allow volunteers to get a credit for their property taxes. The coordinator will manage the program and provide documentation when volunteer hours have been satisfied, based on a set of stringent criteria, so that volunteers can receive credit. We currently provide tax credit for veterans and we would like to see that expanded to volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians.  They would get $250 to $500 in property tax credit for the year when they volunteer.

How will we pay for it?:
The commission itself will be voluntary.  The only costs will be for the Coordinator.  We will transition some of the current political patronage jobs to the job of Volunteer Coordinator so that our residents and not the politically connected receive the benefits of those taxpayer dollar.  We will also be bringing the professional services in-house.  We did this on the Board of Ed when I was a Board of Ed Member. It has resulted in savings.  We currently spend over a million dollars per year on the professional services of Township Attorney and Township Engineering firm.  The Township Attorney has a retainer alone that is approximately $22,000 per month.  He bills us on top of that retainer too.  We can move those services in house and still realize a savings.

Part of our community initiative will be to strengthen our relationship with the Board of Ed. We will have board members on the Community, Zoning, Open Space and Planning Boards. We will have a council person sit on the Board of Ed as liaison.

We are all in this together.  We will only succeed together.  There is no “us against them” without our consent.  Our “them” is “us” in the future and their “them” is “us” right now.  We are one Monroe!

Ken Chiarella