East
Greenwich Sets Political Contribution Limits
by Beth S. Biermann
EAST GREENWICH – Under a recently passed state law,
municipalities have the authority to control how professional service
contracts are awarded. At their Sept. 11 meeting, the East Greenwich
Township Committee took advantage of this opportunity by passing an
ordinance establishing political contribution limits for professional
business entities.
The state law allows municipalities to set standards
for hiring professionals with “no-bid” contracts such as attorneys,
engineers and auditors, among others. Developers and other businesses that
compete for contracts via the bidding process are not included in this
law.
In order to prevent the “pay-to-play” practice in
which large campaign contributions are traded for government contracts,
many municipalities have taken the opportunity provided by this state law
to pass ordinances limiting contributions by professionals.
East Greenwich followed suit by passing their own
ordinance that sets maximum campaign contributions that may be made by
professional business entities, beyond which they become ineligible to
receive a public professional contract from the township.
Professionals may not donate more than $300 to any
individual East Greenwich candidate or party, and more than $500 to the
Gloucester County party.
In addition, professionals are limited to $2,500 in
total donations to all candidates and parties combined. Any professional
found to violate this ordinance will be ineligible for any East Greenwich
contracts for four years from the date of violation.
Mayor John DeGeorge thanked the Center for Civic
Responsibility for their help in drafting the ordinance, along with
township solicitor Thomas North. DeGeorge expressed that he was “ecstatic
that this was unanimous – that’s how it should be”.
In a related action, the committee also introduced an
ordinance that requires additional information from developers as part of
land use applications submitted to the township. Should this ordinance be
passed, major sub-division developers would be required to disclose any
political donations made to Planning or Zoning Board members appointed by
elected officials as part of the application process.
According to the text of the ordinance, these
disclosure statements are intended to promote openness in government and
guarantee a fair and impartial process for any developers requesting
variances, waivers or exceptions to the municipal Master Plan.
After introduction by the township committee, the
ordinance was to be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Boards for their
comments. A second reading and public hearing was scheduled for Sept. 25.
In other business, East Greenwich is still exploring
options for establishing a water source for a new water tank to be
constructed at the intersection of East Wolfert and East Rattling Run
Roads. A meeting is scheduled with the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) on Oct. 3 to request reallocation of a
current well to the location of the water tower.
In order to ensure that there will be adequate water
supply to fill the water tank, a well currently in use would need to be
shut down in order to drill a new well at the water tower site. The
township needs to obtain a reallocation permit from the DEP before this
can proceed.
DeGeorge added that he would like to schedule a
meeting with New Jersey American Water for the day before the DEP meeting.
New Jersey American has expressed willingness to establish a new
interconnect on Union Road to provide additional water supply to East
Greenwich. However, New Jersey American must first own the water in South
Harrison Township, a process which is underway.
DeGeorge stated that he had “every confidence” that
New Jersey American would be able to get approval to own South Harrison’s
water company and there was in fact a meeting on Sept. 11 to discuss the
issue.
He explained that a new interconnect on Union Road
would be the quickest interim solution to the water tower supply problem,
but may become a permanent solution in the event that the DEP does not
approve the well reallocation. Therefore, he would like to meet with New
Jersey American to confirm and finalize plans for the Union Road
interconnect before meeting with the DEP.
