Board nixes residency challenge

Amy Speizer will still be allowed to run for school board.

By: Bill Greenwood
   MONROE — Board of Education member Amy Speizer will be allowed to continue to seek a new term on the board.
   The board voted 8-1 Monday to reject an objection to her candidacy filed by Jennifer Dressel, of Dey Grove Road. Board member Kathy Leonard cast the dissenting vote.
   "The board I think saw the facts and understood it," Ms. Speizer said. "This is a great board and a great town, and I’m glad to be here."
   Ms. Dressel filed a challenge to Ms. Speizer’s candidacy with the board March 2 alleging that Ms. Speizer had secretly moved to a home in Lumberton Township in Cumberland County after selling her home on Namsam Drive in December 2005. She pointed to a line in the mortgage of the Lumberton property stating that the home was to be used as Ms. Speizer’s "primary residence" as the basis for her objection.
   Ms. Dressel said she was not shocked by the board’s decision.
   "I’m not surprised at all," she said. "I truly believe that the Monroe Township Board of Education is the Monroe board of idiocy."
   Ms. Speizer said the Lumberton Township property was merely a second home. She said she sold her Namsam Drive house to her daughter, Meredith Speizer, and her fiancé, Alex Orlando, under the understanding that she would continue to reside there until a condominium on Morning Glory Drive is completed.
   Ms. Speizer said her daughter and her fiancé sometimes stay at the Lumberton property on weekends and that she has made small trips there herself. However, she said she has never stayed there for more than two nights in a row.
   "Residents have the right to have second homes, to have second mortgages," she said. "That’s our right as Americans."
   Ms. Speizer provided 18 documents to the board to prove her township residency. Among those items were a digital driver’s license, a pay stub, vehicle registration cards and mail sent to her Namsam Drive address.
   "I believe that the evidence presented to all the board members was overwhelming in terms of proving that she resides in Monroe Township, and I believe that all this evidence that was presented convinced most of the board members, with the exception of one, that she was a resident of Monroe Township," board member Joe Homoki said.
   Board President Kathy Kolupanowich said she also was convinced by the vast number of documents presented by Ms. Speizer. However, she said it was Ms. Speizer’s digital driver’s license that really stuck out for her.
   "You go through stringent procedures to get a six-point driver’s license, (which requires six forms of identification)," she said.
   However, Ms. Leonard said she was skeptical of the credibility of Ms. Speizer’s evidence, leading her to cast her dissenting vote.
   "I’ve had mail sent to other addresses," she said. "It doesn’t mean I live there."
   Ms. Dressel also questioned Ms. Speizer’s evidence.
   "Of course she’s gonna have all of that stuff sent to her daughter’s house because if she were to turn around and change her driver’s license and change her vehicle registration, everybody would know that she moved," Ms. Dressel said. "The whole point of my complaint was that she secretly moved down there, that she had her stuff continue to be sent to her daughter’s house to make it appear she lived there when she really didn’t live there. She lived down in Lumberton."