After Another Emotional Meeting, Council Approves Funds for Global Purchase

The process of a potential purchase of the Global Complex took another step forward on Tuesday night after an emotional meeting at Town Hall. 

With a 4-1 vote, the council passed an ordinance allowing $6.9 million to be put toward the possible purchase of the Route 9 buildings as the future home of the municipal government.

At Tuesday's meeting residents once again took advantage of their time during the public comment portion to express their feelings on leaving the nearly century old building for the newer structure right off the highway.

While some in attendance came out in favor of the purchase, most were opposed. Their reasons ranged from the cost of maintaining the new building, to the lack of a plan for what would happen to the older buildings, to a desire to keep what they felt is the heart of the township in tact.

After all the arguments for and against the possible purchase the decision ultimately came down to the five members of council sitting on the dais. When the ordinance was first introduced at the last meeting, Mayor Robert Walsh, Deputy Mayor William Gotto and Councilman Robert Nicastro voted for its approval. The lone vote against came from Councilwoman Pauline Smith, while Councilwoman Susan Schroeder Clark was not in attendance.

While not normally a flash point for meetings, one of the most contentious portions of Tuesday's meeting was the council comments on the issue. Walsh had asked Smith to go first, but the veteran councilwoman asked to let everyone else speak. When all the other people passed, it was left to Smith to take the lead. By the time she was done, everyone else had a closing statement to make, as well.

Once again on Tuesday night, Smith made one last push to convince her fellow council members to not pursue the Global purchase any further. "I have tried very hard to look at all sides, all the reports and I keep looking for a silver lining, something that's going to make me feel better about the situation," she said. "It hasn't come."

For his part, Nicastro said he believed the move to the Global building was in the best interest of the township. "Unless things change, they're going to stay the same and this governing body made a commitment that we're going to try to improve," he said. "To improve is to change and to be perfect is to change often." 

The councilman said given the current conditions he did not see how staying in the current town hall would be an option for the township. "I think we've all said in a perfect world this is where we would want town hall. But it's not a perfect world and we're dealing with what we have and the money that we have."

 Smith said despite assurances that the money allotted will be enough to not only cover the purchase of the property, but also the renovations and all the moving fees, it will not cover all the costs. "If we're going to do something lets do it right and that's not doing it right. That's a gamble and not one of us was elected to gamble with the people's money."

When it came to gambling, Gotto took a different view of the situation from his colleague. "I think the gambling that has occurred is the gamble of the history where we've done nothing," he said. "Is there the chance that we missed something? Of course. But I don't think anybody can fault anybody up here for what we've done in the fashion that we've done it. Its been public, its been validated. Its been multiple sourced."

As the process has gone along it has been clear that Smith has been against the proposed move while others including Gotto and Nicastro have seen more positives than negatives in the move. Clark however, has not signaled which side of the issue she was on until Tuesday. 

By the time the meeting was done, she said she had to vote in favor of pursuing the Global deal. "This is a very emotional thing," she said. "I have not made this decision lightly. I have also not made this decision without listening to other people."

Weighing the emotions people feel about their connection to the building was an important factor for Clark and weighed heavily in comparison to other factors including the price tags for the various options presented. "There is no doubt in my mind that this is the single most important decision that we will make on council," she said. "There's no doubt in my mind that everyone up here is making a decision based on what they think is right and the information they have gotten and that also comes from you the people."

In the end, the arguments made by the residents of Howell were not enough to outweigh the numbers. "At the end of the day the most important thing is dollars and cents. We have to be responsible. We have to make sure that we are able to pay our bills," she said. "I would love to have a building here. I would love to have a building that's gorgeous, that holds everybody right here because it is where Howell should be."

With the costs presented at previous meetings for what it would cost for either a new building or to renovate the existing building, Clark said the numbers do not add up for those projects. "Unfortunately we can't afford to, so the same things that everyone's coming up to me and saying you have to stay here because we can't afford to move, I tell you purely on numbers we can't afford not to."

In fact, Gotto said it was the current economic status that is making the opportunity to pursue the building possible. "The only reason we didn't discuss it previously when we had to decide whether we were going to cut a service, lay off police officers or buy the Global Building was because we couldn't afford it when it was being asked for $11 million. We couldn't afford it when it was being asked for $8 million, but maybe we can afford it now and that's what the process is and that's why we're following through."

Having spent most of her adult life in the township, Smith said the decisions they make will have a lasting impact on Howell and maybe not in the best way. "There have been mistakes made by this council, former councils, a lot of them over the last 200 years," she said. "I believe buying this building will be the biggest mistake that any governing body has ever made and we're not going to survive it."

For Gotto, he said the process the council has taken to this point has been important to getting them ready to pursue the purchase. "This isn't an idea where we just woke up one day and saw a for sale sign on the global building and said 'boy that would be a great idea,' " he said. "We didn't start this, I didn't start this process. It started a long time ago."

One possible solution to getting the community behind any possible plan and still moving forward is putting the issue to a referendum in November. While that idea has not gained traction, Gotto said if that were to be a reality, it could present its own challenges and decisions for the residents. "If you want to have a real referendum give everybody the choices. Give them Option 1 for $12,464,000. Give them Option 2 for $13,323,000, or maybe we might just get this one right and give them Option 3 for $6.9 (million)," he said. 

Mayor Walsh said for him, the numbers made sense. He also said he believed that if those three options were put to a vote by the public they would choose the less expensive option. "I only had one question through the years that has been answered time and time again," he said. "Was it economically the right move to do for Howell Township. As long as everything else lined up it is the right thing to do."

By the time the meeting was done, there was no agreement among the members of the public that the council was making the right decision. In fact, there also was a notice passed around to gather community support opposing the purchase. The flier is from a group of residents looking to put the issue to a vote. More information on the resident organization can be found by sending an email to noglobal2011@aol.com or calling Elaine Taylor at 732-901-8777.

Even with the decision of the council, Tuesday's passage of the resolution still does not make the purchase of the Global property a sure thing. The only thing it did was make the money available, which allows them to enter into full negotiations and more fully see their options. It was made clear that there is not a contract in place yet for the purchase and any eventual buying done by the council would have to be done by another ordinance at a later meeting.