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2013 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGES
March 22, 2013
***IMPORTANT*** OPPOSITION TO VOTE EARLY LEGISLATION –
CONTACT THE GOVERNOR
As I am sure you know, yesterday (March 21) the Proposed Early Voting Legislation passed out of the full Assembly and is now on it’s way to the Governor’s Desk!
Please urge your governing bodies to campaign against this bill by writing a letter expressing your town’s opposition and/or by passing a resolution opposing it. PLEASE SEND THE LETTERS AND/OR RESOLUTIONS DIRECTLY TO THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE !!
IMPORTANT – If your municipality has already passed a resolution in opposition please send a copy to the Governor’s office ASAP, WITH A LETTER OPPOSING IT.
Although “Early Voting” by its name sounds like a good idea and therefore is appealing to some elected officials and their constituents, this bill addresses a need that is not present. We already have Early Voting in New Jersey, it’s called VOTE BY MAIL!
IF there is a need – it may be a need to increase awareness and ease of the system that is already in place for Early Voting, which allows a registered voter to vote FAR EARLIER than the proposed legislation would allow voting.
VOTE BY MAIL BALLOTS ARE MAILED up to 45 days prior to an election allowing citizens to VOTE VERY EARLY!!!
Vote By Mail could certainly be improved, however another unfunded mandate is not what’s needed and will be a nightmare NOT an improvement. Perhaps we should RENAME Vote by Mail to VOTE EARLY BY MAIL! And make that as convenient as possible for voters!
Please urge your governing body to reach out directly, by letter and or by resolution, to Governor Christie, to campaign against this unnecessary legislation.
March 3, 2013
IMPORTANT - SENATE VOTE - MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2013
On Monday, March 11 the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee will be considering S-2433.
This bill amends the GRC membership, by providing that in addition to The Commissioner of Community Affairs (or designee), the Commissioner of Education (or designee) and two members of the public (appointed by the Governor with the advice & consent of the Senate) the President of Municipal Clerk's Association of New Jersey OR his/her designee, SHALL serve as member of the Government Records Council.
As you would expect, we will be representing MCANJ at that hearing on Monday to voice our support.
It has been strongly recommended that we reach out to all of you, so you can reach out to your Senators for support.
After this hearing, (providing it passes), the bill will go to the full Senate and then on to the Governor's desk for consideration. This bill already and unanimously passed the full Assembly in December of last year.
This bill was sponsored by Senator Vitale, (District 19-Middlesex County) & Senator Beach, (District 6 (Burlington & Camden Counties) and
Co-Sponsored by Senator Bateman, (District 16 - Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset Counties) & Kean (District 21 - Morris, Somerset and Union Counties). Please reach out to your legislators for support!
Nancy L. Saffos
MCANJ President
January 29, 2013
Happy New Year! I hope and wish for a very healthy, happy and peaceful 2013 for all of you and your families.
This message comes to you fairly close to the message I delivered at our postponed, Annual Business Meeting, held on December 12, 2012 in West Windsor, which was a great success. It was great to see so many of you, who were able to rearrange your schedules and to those of you who couldn’t attend, we did miss you and look forward to seeing you and hearing from you throughout the year. To those of you, our colleagues, who were so terribly affected by Hurricane Sandy, we, all of us in MCANJ would like you to know that you are still on our minds and we are still here to help you with anything that you may need. We are a strong organization and we’re all here to help each other.
During our annual meeting, I spoke of a few things. Those of you who know me know that I’m not afraid to speak about the pink elephant in the room and can sometimes say what others are thinking, but are not willing to say! Having stated that, I would never deliberately offend anyone, certainly not any one of you my colleagues and people who I have a great amount of respect for. One of the things I spoke of was the ever changing environments we find ourselves working in today. There are so many changes happening in our daily work day. How we do things and of course how others think we should be doing things. Legislation affecting what we do seems to coming at us everyday. As I mentioned, we’re not getting asked to do more with less, as we were once not so long ago, we’re just being asked to do more! Many of us looked at our first pay check in 2013 and realized that even if we were lucky enough to get a small pay increase, we’re making less this year than last year! There are issues all around us. Common Sense Shared Services Act, legislation proposing changes to OPMA & OPRA and it’s all frustrating. What we can’t allow to happen is to have all of these changes affect our attitudes. We must continue to work as the professionals we are; the backbone of local government. At the same time, we must be steadfast in our commitment to effect changes where we are able and in some cases to accept what we simply cannot change.
FINALLY, we have, along with the league’s support also gained the support from a few senators that has resulted in amendments to the proposed OPRA legislation changes that will include a municipal clerk on the Government Records Council!! It’s about time. Persistence and the hard work of our members who have joined efforts with our executive board and our legal counsel HAS made a difference. Although there are changes and there are issues that we are still opposing and that in the long run we may not be able to change entirely, you can be certain that we are working relentlessly to make a difference and to protect the integrity of our profession. We are steadfast in our commitment to do what we can. We must continue to perform our duties with professional and dignified attitudes and to the very best of our ability. We may not like or agree with some of the changes before us. Some we may be able to have an affect on and others we may not. At the end of the day, the choice is ours. We can either embrace the changes or be left behind. Remember – we need you all – get involved – be persistent. We want to hear from you – we need your input, your ideas and your talents! “if you’re not part of the solution; you’re part of the problem.” This year let’s all try our best to be part of the solution!
I look forward to working with all of you in the most productive way possible, so please join our team and help us help each other. Be well and keep in touch with us!
Nancy Saffos
2013 MCANJ President
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