Merchantville.com

Transparent: free from pretense or deceit;  easily detected or seen through : obvious;  readily understood;  characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices. "Transparent" was a term repeatedly uttered and penned by Bernie Platt, Rich James and those spearheading the efforts of the quasi-merger study commission during their opening meeting on December 6th. Yet, to date there has been very little evidence of transparency about the actions taken by Cherry Hill mayor, Bernie Platt, and others to manipulate the DCA application process in order to block a joint application with our elected Borough government in favor of a hybrid application with a petition group.

In August 2010, Cherry Hill submits a resolution to to the DCA to form a study commission. In September 2010, at the request of the petition group, Merchantville submits a resolution to the DCA to form a study commission with Cherry Hill. At a meeting held at the DOE on November 4, 2010, attended by Mayor North, Mayor Platt and Sen. James Beach, DCA Commissioner Lori Griffa advocated for a local and county approach to the consolidation study, offering to reach out to the President of Rutger University to aid with the study as soon as she received the joint application from Merchantville and Cherry Hill. In response, Mayor North stated that he "was waiting for Cherry Hill to form their commission". Mayor Platt stated that he "planned to move forward after this meeting".

The joint municipal application moved ahead until Merchantville's commission was submitted to DCA on December 1, 2010.  Additionally, on December 15, 2010 a study application by the petition group over the summer was rejected by the DCA. From that point forward there was no movement from Cherry Hill.

Mayor Platt ignored the request of DCA Commissioner Griffa, as well as letters and calls from Mayor North and Tom Neff allowing the DCA joint application to expire on 2/28/11. He then awaited the passage of the Beach(Cherry Hill)/Gordon law on 4/27/11 that allowed him to form a study commission with everybody including the borough.  he chose the petition group rather than the municipality. . .curious? More intriguing was the fact that Platt's Weekly Breifings on during this time period include no entries about the joint effort or DCA meeting between 10/29/10-3/11/11. There are also no Council agendas, minutes or resolutions to review as that area is "under construction". Then, a merger-epiphany on July 8, 2011! Platt proclaims that a year after the original DCA applications were submitted his interest is now "piqued" and (he intends) "to move forward with a petition group". Ergo, Platt's plot prevails.

As if transparency was not already in limited supply before the first meeting of the self-appointed commission, a review of NJ Public Notices discloses the following: 1) On 11/18/11, three weeks before this first public meeting the Cherry Hill Town Council had placed a paid ad seeking an RFP for a merger study consultant.  2) The legal public notice of thisfirst meeting on 12/6/11 was advertised by the Township of Cherry Hill on 12/3/11 in the Courier Post and Vineland Daily Journal - btw . . . is the Daily Journal where one hides local public notices? Although "Merchantville Connecting for the Future" claims to represent Merchantville they neglected to inform the public in the Borough's official newspaper, The Retrospect.

As for transparency during the meeting, it was missing. Adding to the obscure way that this commission was impaneled was the fog surrounding the preemptive swearing in of Roger Dennis, five days before the first meeting - as it turns out - for the sole purpose of nominating and electing the Cherry Hill appointee chairman "in absencia". That same panel opened a meeting on July 27th with remarks about the fragmented nature of municipalities in the state, noting that this can contribute to higher property taxes. Dennis, a 30-year resident of the township, said he feels that a successful merger between the two towns could be used as a consolidation model for other municipalities in the state. Hardly sounds like an unbiased statement from a commission member.

Those on the panel who say they value the importance of a transparent process need to clarify this murky mess before attempting to move forward.