Thursday, May 16, 2013
West Deptford CFO Brenda Sprigman is operating with outdated software and a legacy of obscure records, says Committeeman Sam Cianfarini.
Although township administrator Eric Campo produced a two-inch-thick budget abstract for West Deptford committee members to review prior to its introduction Thursday, Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo was still dissatisfied with the level of transparency in the documentation. DiCarlo was the lone dissenter when the 2013 budget was introduced at Thursday's meeting of the West Deptford committee. Among her concerns was that the salary structures it contained didn't seem to add up. For starters, DiCarlo, who complained previously that she had felt frozen out of the budget process by finance chair Sam Cianfarini and CFO Brenda Sprigman, said that she shouldn't have had to wait two months to access information that is a matter of public record. “If…
Monday, May 6, 2013
Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo said she didn't have enough detailed information from the CFO about the working budget prior to the May 2 meeting.
Communication issues among members of the West Deptford township committee drove the May 2 meeting of the body, with committee members Denice DiCarlo and Sam Cianfarini challenging each other over the 2013 municipal budget. During that meeting, DiCarlo said her inability to get answers of depth to a number of specific questions posed of West Deptford CFO Brenda Sprigman added to her frustration with the process. Afterward, DiCarlo produced a string of email correspondences that she said illustrated some of her difficulties along the way. Correspondence In one email exchange dated April 12, DiCarlo asked Sprigman, “Who is handling the budget this year? You or the Auditors?” Sprigman's reply is, “The budget is being handled this year the …
Friday, May 3, 2013
The proverbial wheels fell right off a meeting that was expected to include the introduction of the 2013 township budget, with residents reacting audibly, and officials playing to the crowd.
Fault lines in the working relationships of township committee members were put on public display Thursday, as arguments over township finances smothered any formal introduction of the 2013 municipal budget. Mayor Ray Chintall was forced to lean heavily on his gavel, alternately quieting the body on the dais and those in attendance, who hooted or grumbled depending upon their seating arrangements. Committee members Denice DiCarlo and Sam Cianfarini were at the center of what have become commonly contentious exchanges, with emotions running high amid the strain of flagging municipal revenues. The arguments swung on a convoluted budget presentation from Cianfarini that illustrated how deeply the loss of ratable properties will be felt by …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
At its Thursday night work session, the West Deptford Township Committee approved an agreement to solicit corporate advertising on township assets to raise revenues.
What would West Deptford look like with a Wawa logo on its water tower? Or an upbeat message about recycling—brought to you by Lowe’s—on the side of its garbage trucks? How about a discount on plumbing fixtures at Home Depot, printed right on the bottom of a water bill shipped directly to 22,000 homes? These are some of the ideas that could be brought to life in the near future, as the local government seeks to find ways to offset its multimillion-dollar loss of ratables and “a double-digit [percentage] increase” in taxes, said Mayor Ray Chintall. “Eyeballs and bodies” were the watchwords of Thursday's West Deptford Township Committee meeting, and the 40-plus residents there heard about government plans to focus both on generating …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
If finalized, membership fees for Township residents would increase about 5.5 to 7 percent, raising about $81,000 in revenues.
Fees for use of the RiverWinds Community Center are likely to increase in the not-too-distant future. The first reading of an ordinance that would increase membership fees along a sliding scale passed a West Deptford Township Committee vote by a majority at the Thursday meeting. If approved at subsequent readings, the measure could raise some $81,365 in additional revenues for the financially beleagured facility. The range of proposed fees presented to the Comittee by the RiverWinds Advisory Board (R.W.A.B.), which was introduced at its March 2013 meeting, ranged from a 2-percent, across-the-board increase, which would generate $28,963 in revenues, to a 10 percent flat increase that would raise $144,816 in revenues. The final …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Denice DiCarlo said the township Democrats are putting up candidates who are in the race 'for all the right reasons.'
Although her colleague Donna Szymborski will not be up for re-election in the upcoming Township Committee race, West Deptford Township Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo hopes an infusion of new blood into the Democratic ticket can help change the conversation of township politics. James Robinson Jr. and Adam Reid are the two primary candidates whose petitions for election were filed with the township clerk on Monday. A statement of endorsement from the West Deptford Democratic Party noted that their selection was "the culmination of an expansive search for new candidates begun earlier this year" in which more than 6,000 emails went out to solicit "persons interested in running for office or getting involved in West Deptford government to step …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo said Sprigman was appointed by a vote along party lines; her colleague Sam Cianfarini said the acting CFO was the most qualified for the position.
She may be personable, a good manager and well-liked by people in the West Deptford government, but acting township CFO Brenda Sprigman is still not a certified municipal finance officer (CMFO), says Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo—and that concerns her. "Upset is probably an understatement of how I felt" leaving the special meeting of the West Deptford Committee Tuesday night, DiCarlo said. "I thought this was a position that we would go and hire the best-qualified candidate." DiCarlo, a Democrat, claimed that Sprigman's appointment, which was approved by a 3-2 vote along party lines, was a political decision that favored the local GOP party treasurer. "When you think about it in an accounting standard, we had two qualified candidates who …
Friday, January 18, 2013
Township committee votes to appoint a new patrolman, municipal alliance coordinator and interim prosecutor.
Missed the Jan. 17 township committee meeting? No worries. Here are the five things you need to know: 1. A resolution appointing Thomas M. McWain Jr. as a patrolman in the West Deptford Police Department passed unanimously by the committee. Mayor Raymond Chintall announced that while McWain is currently a South Harrison officer, he has local roots—growing up in West Deptford and graduating from West Deptford High School. West Deptford Police Chief Craig Mangano made the recommendation to hire McWain. A number of McWain’s family members were in attendance, along with members of the West Deptford Police Department, who offered congratulatory handshakes after McWain was sworn in. 2. West Deptford may soon get a second dump truck after …
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West Deptford Township Municipal Building
400 Crown Point Rd, West Deptford, NJ
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Thursday, January 3, 2013
After the political tide turned last year, it's unlikely the township committee will make as many appointment changes at tonight's reorganization meeting.
Tonight's West Deptford Township reorganization meeting for 2013 may not see quite as much change at the top as recent years did. Last year's reorganization meeting saw the appointment of Raymond Chintall as mayor, Sean Kilpatrick as deputy mayor, and a swing in the political landscape in the township as the Republican-led committee made sweeping changes to the township's professional appointments. With no changes in the five committee members from 2012, it would be a surprise to see such changes happen once again. Democratic Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo, who won the 2012 election over Republican Jeff Hansen, will be sworn into a new, three-year term on Thursday night. Her re-election keeps the balance at 3-2 for Republicans to Democrats…
39.84434
-75.19027
West Deptford Township Municipal Building
400 Crown Point Rd, West Deptford, NJ
/articles/sweeping-changes-not-expected-at-committee-reorganization
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Democrat narrowly defeated GOP challenger Jeff Hansen in the race for township committee, according to election results certified Tuesday.
After weeks of waiting, Democrat Denice DiCarlo can officially celebrate her victory in the township committee race. The results of the close race were certified Tuesday afternoon by the Gloucester County Board of Elections, exactly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election. Preliminary results after the polls closed on election night showed DiCarlo ahead in the race by just 99 votes. Ultimately, DiCarlo defeated GOP challenger Jeff Hansen by 140 votes, according to the certified results. The final vote tally was 5,213 to 5073, with 11 write-in votes, once all provisional ballots and any cast remotely by residents displaced by Superstorm Sandy were counted. Hurricane Sandy disrupted the election process across New Jersey, and Gloucester …
Occupant
2:25 pm on Sunday, May 19, 2013
To get back on topic... I criticized DiCarlo aka "Double "D" in a previous post here for her badgering of Springman at the committee meeting. Matt Skoufalos deleted it. Thanks Matt, you have proved to be a true biased humanitarian. DiCarlo knows full well that the township is running outdated software but what is puzzling is the fact that they cant get accurate queries on this data. Surely the … more ›