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Robert K. Haelig Jr. |
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DMUA
Reorganization - 01/28/04
Veteran
GOP Official Named Dover Municipal Utilities Chairman
Robert K. Haelig
Jr., With A Perfect 24 Year Attendance Record, Will Head DMUA
Commission For 2004
Dover Township:
Former Republican Assemblyman Robert K.
Haelig Jr. has been elected as Chairman of the Dover Municipal
Utilities Authority for 2004.
Perfect Attendance Record For 24 Years
Haelig, who has served the DMUA for twenty-four years as Commissioner,
may be the only public official in New
Jersey history to have a perfect attendance record for 24 years. He
has never missed a regularly scheduled meeting of the authority since
he was named to the commission in 1980.
Haelig's Election Unanimous Except For Mrs. Clement
The vote to make Haelig DMUA chairman was unanimous except for the
lone dissenting vote of commissioner Deborah Clement, who voted "no".
Mrs. Clement is the wife of Richard Clement, President of the local
Republican Club.
Haelig, An Active Republican Since 1956 Eisenhower Campaign,
Is The Author Of "Eight Rules of Good Local Government"
Haelig, a Republican since he campaigned for the re-election of
General Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, is the author of the "Eight Rules
of Good Local Government", a set of basic Republican principles
adapted in plain language to local government theory and operations.
Haelig is also the author of numerous articles, including the
"Historical
Perspective and Images
of the Attack on America", a retrospective and historical analysis of
the 9/11/01 attacks which has been reprinted several times on these
pages.
Commissioner Haelig, a student at Lehigh University during the
Eisenhower re-election campaign, also was active in the local
Republican leadership of the Nixon campaign in 1960.
Former Republican Councilman And Planning Board Member
He is a former Middlesex Borough Republican Councilman (elected
1965) and a former member of the Middlesex Planning Board, in which
capacity he prepared policy papers on the effects of apartment
complexes on school expansion.
Former Republican Assemblyman And Labor Committee Chairman
He served two terms as a Middlesex County Republican legislator in the
NJ General Assembly 1968-1972, and was the Chairman of the Assembly
Labor Relations Committee.
In 24 years with the DMUA, Commissioner Haelig has served several
years as chairman and vice-chairman.
Cut The DMUA Budget By Nearly 20% And
Saved The DMUA From Near Insolvency
Haelig is one of the few public officials in New Jersey who has ever actually
cut a general expense budget. When Republicans took control of
the DMUA in 1982 (replacing a corrupt and wasteful Democrat
administration) Commissioner Haelig, as Chairman of the Authority,
reduced the staff and the annual budget by nearly 20%, giving the
authority enormous credibility, and literally saving the agency from
near-insolvency.
Commissioner Haelig devised the financial programs of the DMUA for 20
years, from 1982 until June of 2001.
Financial Strategies Devised By Haelig Gave DMUA Highest Return
The financial strategies developed by Commissioner Haelig, all based
on generally accepted Republican principles, gave the DMUA the highest
return on investment of any local or county public agency in New
Jersey, and produced enough revenue (through June of 2001) and
sufficient reserves to return more than $2 million annually on
reserves of $41 million, enough to maintain the $225 sewer rate (which
does not, by itself, produce anywhere near enough revenue to meet the
agency's needs), and balance the authority's budget every year.
$225 DMUA Rate One Of The Lowest In NJ
The $225 basic annual sewer rate has been stable for twenty years and
is now virtually the lowest sewer rate for any major community in New
Jersey.
Ms. Yezzi Only Commissioner Not To Attend Annual Reorganization
Every commissioner attended the annual reorganization meeting, except
newly appointed Alternate Commissioner April Yezzi, wife of architect
Massimo Yezzi who, according to Authority Executive Director John
Broome, couldn't make the meeting because she was in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
Bellu Selected As Authority Vice-Chairman
Former Planning Board Chairman Juan Carlos Bellu was selected as the
Authority's Vice-Chairman.
More on the DMUA reorganization and the challenges facing the agency
in 2004 coming soon on OceanCountyPolitics.
To review the the
"Historical
Perspective and Images
of the Attack on America", by Robert K. Haelig Jr., please Click Here.
To review the "Eight
principles of Good Local government", by Robert K. Haelig Jr., please
Click Here
(for 01/29/04) |
