"Straight A" plan

The  Straight A’s agenda 
will aggressively put county government back into the hands of residents and 
out of the hands of Party bosses.

The Straight A’s for Change agenda will do the following:

Affordability

• Cut county spending by $30 million, providing taxpayers with real relief.
• Vastly reduce the county vehicle fleet and use the savings to offset municipal purpose tax increases.
• Immediately cut the salaries of all political appointees by 10%.
• Cut political patronage positions to help reinstate many of the senior transportation services programs affected by Director Fenton’s harsh cuts.

Accessibility

• Immediately create evening hours for County Clerk and Government services and implement mobile and satellite offices throughout all four-corners of the county.
• Hold Freeholder Meetings in the evening when residents can actually attend and make them available via cable television and the internet so all citizens can participate in their government.
• Eliminate the secret meetings and non-public work-sessions that the Incumbents have made famous.

Accountability

• Offer competitive bidding contracts for professional services, eliminate no-show jobs and cut jobs through attrition.
• Strict oversight of the Bridge Commission and other county agencies so that we will never have millions of taxpayer dollars stolen or no-show jobs given to political insiders again
• Appoint Inspector General to uncover wasteful spending, fraud and abuse.
• Attend municipal meetings throughout the county on a monthly basis to find ways to improve government service and proactively address the concerns of residents.

In addition, on the day they are sworn into office, Freeholders Reinhart and Brown will introduce a resolution to:

End Pay-to-Play and Pass Tough Ethics Reform

• Ban nepotism in county government;
• End no-bid contracts by county government;
• Introduce a Revolving-Door policy to prevent elected officials and county employees from jumping from government to employment with vendors doing business with the County;
• Limit the number of annual contracts held by any one business;
• New campaign contribution disclosure requirements for any person or entity seeking a county contract (consistent with new ELEC requirements);
• Ban on dual office holding and multiple forms of public employment involving any elected position in the county;
• End the practice of doling out county jobs and contracts to those already on the county or local payrolls;
• Ban granting contracts to the employers of elected or appointed officials;
• End no-show county jobs for elected officials;
• Ban gifts to elected and appointed officials and key managers; and
• Prohibit hiring or contracting with a county party chair or his/her business or employer.

“We’re proposing an extreme makeover for a county government that has extreme problems and extremely poor leadership,”