School Study Feedback Being Prepped by Mendham Twp.

Mendham Borough Mayor Neil Henry asked Mendham Township Mayor Rick Merkt and his township committee to review a request for proposal on a feasibility study that would break apart the regional school district and provide feedback by July 15.

At Monday night’s meeting of the Township Committee, the governing body finalized their feedback.

“I think we can meet the borough’s request in terms of a schedule but get the response to them a little bit sooner,” Merkt said.

Administrator Steve Mountain said he and Chief Financial Officer Tim Day looked over the RFP and focused on the administrative side of it in respect to structure and organization. Mountain’s suggestions focused on the mechanics of the proposal and included:

·      Looking at the relevant dates to make sure they were accurate and offer a realistic turnaround time.

·      Consolidated introduction to the RFP.

·      Submission requirements should be consolidated along with the addition of some standard items that are needed from the state.

·      Addition of a suggestion on how the review of the proposals should be done.

·      How to manage the consultant needs to be fleshed out before the agent is selected.

·      Add a section for prior studies and relevant reports.

·      Add a section on the delivery of reports and expectations on time frame for delivery and what the final product should be.

Mountain also said that Mendham Borough under this document is the lead agency, but there should be a process that makes sure it is satisfactory to all the participating agencies.

Committeeman Rob Strobel said he wanted to see a 60-day window for the study to be done, an attempt to include the schools and other town perspectives and the assurance Mendham Township would have meaningful input in terms of the bidder list. Strobel also said he made his notes, which he had disseminated to the rest of the township committee, on a word document he made by converting the PDF provided.

The PDF was put together by Citizens for Better Schools representative Rob Marino and vetted by the Mendham Borough governing body. There confusion last month as Marino and Mendham Township/Borough resident Brian Cavanaugh both produced PDFs under the auspices of CBS. Mendham Borough ultimately went with Marino's version for dissemination.

“No one had a word version of this document. Not Mendham Borough, not Rob Marino. Only the PDF,” Strobel said. “I don’t know how they planned on making changes. Even simple changes like correct dates.”

Deputy Mayor Maribeth Thomas said that she was in agreement with both Mountain and Strobel and said she was happy with Mendham Borough as the lead agent.

“I think Ellen (Sandman) will do a great job,” Thomas said.

Mendham Township resident and Regional School Board representative Jamie Button asked that the governing body do whatever they can to not impede the progress made by Mendham Borough.

“I ask you, which RFP changes are worth $9,000 a day? What priorities are more important? What item would yield a greater benefit than $3.3 million dollars a year?” Button said. “I ask you to set aside any petty differences you may have with the Mendham Borough Council.  I ask you to resist developing uninformed personal opinions before reading a completed feasibility study.  And I ask you not to delay any further in taking all steps necessary to allow Mendham Township voters to be heard through a referendum on restructuring our high school district.”

Button said that the recent military coup in Egypt put him in mind of the situation in Mendham Township.

“In a November 2004 referendum on dividing the regional high school district in two, an overwhelming majority—86 percent of Mendham Township voters—voted yes,” Button said. “We must not thwart the will of this majority in Mendham Township as the Egyptian military has thwarted the will of the majority in Egypt.”

Mendham Township resident Norman Preston said he wanted to make sure all of the K-8 districts were involved in the process, rather than “run roughshod” over them and fellow resident Michael Merritt said that there were other considerations beyond money to consider.

“I think we could spend a lot more money and get a lower value of education,” Merritt said. “I think its important that we move prudently and with our neighboring communities.”

Committeeman Chris Baumann said he was dismayed by some of the comments directed toward the Township Committee.

“I understand people’s passions but we have been consistent in providing feedback. When do we say enough is enough? We gave them what was appropriate in regards to content and I just don’t get it. I don’t get the constant comments that are made. We keep saying the same thing over and over,” Baumann said.

Merkt agreed the issue ignited a lot of passion, and said that while there was a lot of money involved, there was also more at stake.

“In this case we were responding to another mayor and his request that we provide feedback by a certain time and we will not only meet that but hopefully get our remarks in early,” Merkt said. “And that is the great thing about our democracy. We get to say what we say without people pulling out guns.”