Finding the Facts

A lot of half-baked information was tossed around last night, one item being an allegation that the current Plainfield representative to the Plainfield Area Regional Sewerage Authority brought back $1.5 million to the city.

It turns out the amount was $1 million and it was divided among the eight municipalities served by PARSA and it happened in 2013. The sum represented savings achieved by the Middlesex County Utilities Authority, which ultimately treats sewage from the municipalities after passage through the PARSA system.

The same speaker pooh-poohed the nomination of a city resident to serve on PARSA, saying the individual is an attorney and no attorney would work for $4,000 a year, which he then said was the $4,700 stipend PARSA commissioners receive. Actually, the nominee has a full-time job as director of a parking authority and like other commissioners would attend monthly PARSA meetings as a representative of his municipality.

The speaker Monday also characterized PARSA as having its "own little clique" and said of the proposed commissioner, "He will sit there like a dummy."

The other commissioners include mayors and professionals who know how to be collegial, so the idea of a new commissioner being ostracized as an outsider is ludicrous.

The speaker's comments will go out to the public on the local TV channels. Let the viewer beware.

P.S. The council declined both the nomination and the corporation counsel's explanation of a correction to the current nominating legislation, which she said is in violation of the city's special charter. It is unclear how any future commissioner can be nominated due to this circumstance.

--Bernice