UPPER FREEHOLD — With calls to restore civility on the national level gaining prominence, such measures must start at the local level.
At the Jan. 20 Township Committee meeting, Mayor Lorisue Horsnall Mount noted that during the snow emergency in the last week of the year, township employees received calls from residents using “some colorful language” and berating people trying to help them. She said there should be a policy that precludes employees from helping residents that do not treat them with respect .
Mount said residents should call 911 in emergencies. If residents have to call the township, they should explain their situation to employees calmly. Township Attorney Granville Michael Magee said municipal employees do not have to speak with callers who refuse to give their names and addresses.
Department of Public Works (DPW) employees ran into problems with disrespectful residents during the storm cleanup. Ron Springsteen said the DPW doesn’t have the manpower it once did, and is down to five trucks for snowplowing.
“In the past, we had three other trucks we would use for developments,” he said.
Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Wentzien said that the township’s priority in a snow emergency is to clear main roads first. Springsteen said residents should not plow their driveways before their roads are cleared. During the recent storm, one resident plowed his driveway and refused to get out of the way of Springsteen’s snowplow. Springsteen had to call the New Jersey State Police about the individual.
Committeeman Stan Moslowski Jr., who was the mayor during the last week of 2010, used his own plows to help clear township roadways. He said one woman accused him of being “on coffee breaks” and not getting her road plowed.
Committeeman Bob Faber said residents should find out who plows their roads, as the township is not responsible for plowing some of them. He said a woman once threw her broken mailbox in the DPW thinking township employees broke it while plowing her road. However, she lived on a county road that county-owned vehicles plowed. Wentzien said there was one report of a broken mailbox on Hill Road in the last storm.
Mount said, “There is no cure-all process for people who don’t want to be civil and want instant gratification.”