CAI-NJ Sept. 2019update

Forging Positive Relations with Your Municipality: Have Coffee with the Mayor. Even Better, Have Township Wide Connections!

By Paul Raetsch, Former President, Horizons at Woods Landing HOA

O n October 30, 2006, a Bankruptcy Court approved Kara Homes bankruptcy petition. On November 1, 2006, all work at Horizons at Woods Landing (HWL) stopped. Twelve homes in vari- ous states of completion were abandoned. Only149 of the planned 249 homes were completed. Thus began a partnership of the HWL Executive Board with the Township of Hamilton (Atlantic County). The board worked with the township to find a new developer and draft agreeable terms. Certainly, all was not smooth sailing; but without this cooperation, the development may have remained stagnant, and Fernmoor Homes might not have taken over the project in October 2009. New Jersey has a strong, and I believe excessive, history of “home rule.” Within our twenty-one, counties are 566 local government jurisdictions and another 678 school dis- tricts. Property taxes are among the highest in the nation, so residents should be interested in local government and its spending. More than half of our property taxes are ded- icated to school funding, so we should be concerned with both the school boards and the municipalities. As residents in common interest communities, our priority should be to nurture cooperative and positive relations with our municipalities. While our positive relationship with our

Courtesy CAI-NJ.

Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry speaking at a Connections meeting

township started due to extreme hardship, we continue to keep good relations. We believe that adversarial relations do not lead to good outcomes. A great way to help positive relations is to invite the Mayor and Committee members to clubhouse events. When the clubhouse was dedicated, we invited the local officials who helped get our development back on track. When we dedicated our flag pole, we made sure to include township officials. Our residents convinced the township to officially rename our streets after World War II veterans from the township and thus invited the mayor and committee to that event. Our Freeholders and Congressman were also at that event. As an age-restricted community, we successfully peti- tioned the township committee to establish a senior citizens committee. HWL and two other age-restricted communities were given ad-hoc membership on that committee. We made a special presentation to thank a police officer for her excellent work and invited the township mayor and committee and chief for that event. Every October we have hosted a Candidates Night for all the township committee candidates. While this serves the purpose of allowing our residents to meet all the CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 44

Courtesy CAI-NJ.

Hamilton Township Mayor Amy Gatto congratulates the first three presidents of HWLHOA, Paul Raetsch, Ray Keilmann and Vince Corso for the Gold Star Community Award.

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