Council says yes to health department merger

Despite citizens’ pleas to reconsider, council moves ahead, By Fran Hardy Sparta - There were four “yeas” and one abstention at Tuesday night’s Sparta Town Council meeting when the issue, discussed and debated for more than eight weeks, finally came to a vote. In spite of citizens’ ardent protests and passionate pleas to stop the move, the council approved the merger of Sparta’s Health Department with the Sussex County Division of Health. After an emotional public discussion during which residents expressed confusion over the reasoning for the merger and a lack of confidence in its potential outcome, Mayor Manny Goldberg proceeded to call for the vote. The one abstention was Jerry Murphy, who earlier in the meeting said he would recuse himself due to his employment by the Township of Stillwater. Sparta has traditionally supplied heath department services to other, smaller municipalities, including Stanhope. When Franklin Borough chose to pull out of that service area and join the county, Sparta began considering the same move. Most of the smaller municipalities in Sussex County contract with the county for health services, although some maintain their own animal control officers and most offer their own rabies clinics. The meeting began on a sour note and went downhill from there. When the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time passed, the crowd of mostly senior citizens, which filled the room to capacity for the second time this month, waited less than patiently for more than 45 minutes. As council members finally entered the courtroom in Sparta’s Municipal Building around 8:15 p.m., the disgruntled group greeted them with boos, and comments of “very unprofessional”, and “that was uncalled for!” Mayor Goldberg apologized for the late start, explaining the council had been in executive session since 6:15 that evening dealing with some very important matters and deliberations ran later than anticipated. It was later learned that the executive session involved discussions with Sparta Health officer, Ralph D’Aries, who at the Jan. 9 council meeting, was promised the opportunity to plead his case against the merger in this week’s executive session. D’Aries had already made a planned presentation at the Nov. 21 council meeting detailing his opposition to the merger and was stopped from participating in the Jan. 9 public comment session because the action broke township meeting protocol. The meeting was further delayed by technical difficulties with the overhead projections intended for visual aids. After handouts were created for the group and projections were up and running, township manager Henry Underhill made a presentation outlining projected savings the town could reap after the merger. He explained that tax savings could be as much as $158,000 or as little as $65,000. The savings are contingent on variables such as the number of other municipalities that could also choose county coverage, and the number of health department employees that could opt to move to the county. Mayor Goldberg then opened the floor for public discussion and for more than an hour a steady stream of citizens - not all seniors - made their way to the podium to voice concerns, dismay, and outright anger over the health department merger. Most comments echoed those made at the Jan. 9 council meeting, and were voiced by some of the same people. Ilene Francis asked, “Are you (council members) really hearing us out here? I feel you’re just looking at me and saying, ‘Okay lady, go away, the vote is already settled.’” Jack Healy said to the council, because it planned to keep only Animal Control services under local control, “You’re showing more concern for pets than for people!” Manny Reis said, “We’re paying more taxes and getting less services. We’re the people who put you in office, and you’re ignoring us!” Bob Moran tried to put the evening into perspective when he suggested, “Just vote no and cancel the whole damn thing!” The mayor said he believed he and the council are doing the job they were elected to do, “to do what we feel is best for Sparta.” Tax savings from the merger, which have been criticized by citizens as insufficient to warrant the move, could be substantial when added to other aggregate savings the council is considering, the mayor said. Seven representatives from the county health system and county administrator John Eskilson joined Mayor Goldberg for a roundtable discussion with seniors at the Knoll Heights Senior Center on Saturday to answer questions and concerns over the merger. Many seniors felt their concerns over the loss of the personal, local heath services to which they are accustomed were not addressed. The mayor and county officials have assured the public there will be no reduction in services. “The county is anxious to set an example with Sparta - to do the right thing and provide the best service,” Goldberg said. After the motion to merge with the county health system was passed Tuesday night, the mayor invited citizens to remain for other matters the council would be discussing. There were no takers among the grumbling and disenchanted crowd that quickly exited the room.