Letter: Mayor Fressola on the Nov. 8 Election Date Change Referendum

In June, Manchester's township council that will pose a long-debated question to residents — from May to November?

Proponents have said that the move will save the township tens of thousands of dollars, while those opposed fear that the change could usher in the return of partisan politics to Manchester, despite the assertion that the government will remain nonpartisan.

Mayor Michael Fressola shares his thoughts below before residents make their decision on Nov. 8. Please share your opinion in the comments section and poll following the mayor's letter.

Please allow me to refresh the memory of our old time residents (those who have lived in Manchester more than 20 years) and enlighten others who moved in from that period of time to now. I will try to keep this as brief as possible. I will make myself available to discuss the following issues with any group or individual.

Prior to 1990, the township had been in the control of one political party for many years. Nine-plus members of that party, including four former mayors, the treasurer, the deputy treasurer, the municipal attorney, and a local newspaper editor were all indicted in what turned out to be the worst municipal financial scandal in the history of this state, leaving the township close to bankruptcy.   

A very large group of concerned citizens decided that kind of governing would never be allowed to take place in Manchester again.

We were successful and the township became what is known as a nonpartisan form of government with elections in May, to rule out political party involvement. We were warned at that time that periodically, there would be attempts to change our form of government back to that kind of party politics, so that party politicians could again take control of Manchester.  

That attempt was tried by the same political group a little over 10 years ago, but the good citizens of Manchester, to their credit, solidly defeated that effort indicating they wanted no part of party politics in Manchester.

We who have been involved in the governing of this town, have guarded our nonpartisanship zealously. Unlike politically governed towns, there is no one on the township payroll who was hired as a result of political connections. No one appointed to any position in the government, paid or unpaid, has ever been asked how they are registered to vote. Our only question of these folks is regarding their dedication to the needs of the Township and not the needs or concerns of any political party. We believed then (20 years ago) and continue to believe that there is no place in municipal government for party politics.

Now let’s move to current events. A movement has been started again by the same partisan political club in Manchester, with a very small membership, to change the date of municipal elections from May to November and they profess that the non partisan form of government would continue even with the election date changed.  

I doubt each and every word they say and moving the date of elections would be just their first step toward the conversion of the Township to one of partisan politics. Please keep in mind the leaders of this movement are two past mayors, one from Jackson and the other from Lakewood.

They also will try to tell you their interest is to save the town money by moving the elections to November. One Susanne Dyer, Assistant Supervisor of the Ocean County Board of Elections, said the last election in May cost a total of $40,603. This does not translate into a lot of money per household. They will, and have in the recent past, try to tell you elections cost much more, in their effort to push their agenda.

We would rather work to continue in our efforts to combine the school board elections held in late April with municipal elections held in May, saving money while preserving our nonpartisanship. This partisan political group has not helped our efforts to get this done, in any way.

More information will follow, but I ask each and every registered voter in the Township to come out to vote this November when there will be a question on the ballot as to whether or not you want to move the municipal elections to November. I ask you all, for all of the reasons I have sighted, to vote against this politically motivated move.

Sincerely,

Michael Fressola
Mayor