Good story, Jason. I thought the committee meeting tonight was very uplifting, showed the positive spirit of the community in this adversity. A lot of people spoke, and there was not a single negative word toward town officials, in fact, much praise, and all constructive remarks.

Glad to hear the record has been set straight. I thought the community spirit was awesome during the two weeks of the storm. I was surprised by the anti-communication comments of the past weeks. WRNJ had constant information and township official interviews daily, warming stations were wonderful oases of friends, heat, coffee and information. Nixle updates arrived 8 to 10 times a day. They weren't always the most useful and, without a smart phone, being directed to the town's webpage not the most informative--but the information was there and could be accessed while at wifi hotspots. Mostly I remember being thankful that we did not receive the predicted amounts of rain and that we were not experiencing a repeat of last year's flooding on top of the wind damage. I experienced cooperation and friendliness and made some new acquaintances. I am thankful for the thousands of workers who poured into the state to help and to our officials and town volunteers who worked long hours, without power and creature comforts themselves, while they tried to make some sense of the mess and get it cleared up.

Mayor, Committe, Police, Fire, EMS and the many resident volunteers did a great job during this storm. The only negligent behavior was that by the executives at JCP&L. Good job done by all!

Due to an eye injury I did not make the Twp meeting. But I agree, the town body did well, with a special effort by Scott Frech, DPW, as usual. I want to add, although this outage was an extreme event, and normally one could excuse the power provider, our PAST FOUR YEARS have shown MULTIPLE numbers of outages from 4, to 6 to 8 and now 13 days. Let us not forget 6 or 7 more outages of varying intervals here in JCPL's self-described ''black hole''. JCPL should have their tariff to operate REVOKED ! I have had JCPL meet here, in my drive to make their excuses about what the CAN'T do, never what they SHOULD or COULD do, all the while heaping on the b.s without knowing my ''consultant'' standing there with us was a retiree from their bozo company, as a lineman! He knows what needs to be done, he told me how they eliminated 3 out of 4 local line crews as a cost saver. THAT is why you NEVER SEE local JCPL repair in these outages, they just AIN'T GOT 'EM, all the while blowing the horn about how they bring in all those ''out of state'' crews. When you have no IN STATE crews, what else is there ? ''dump the chumps'', write Douglas Dickson at Board of Public utilities and demand action, (like, revoke their operating license). Let's see what winter ice and snow will bring, in the meantime, stock up on wood, kerosene, gasoline and candles.

Where are these meetings held? I was unable to easily find this information on the town website

First of all, Sandy was considered a once in a century storm. Well folks, with climate change a reality, look for many more storms of this magnitude in the near future. If JCPL can not staff to provide immediate response for disasters like Sandy, their management should be replaced with people who can. As a township, we can not afford anything less.

I am not talented at public speaking. I meant to say "it (not you) took a long time to get it (power) back".

It's amazing to me JCP&L faxed circuit maps that our Township office had to tape together that was hard to read so that the people from Duke Energy & others had something to go by & then use our Township maps to figure out where things were in relation to the circuit map. It was like piecing together a puzzle. Now, imagine towns doing that statewide & you see why it took everyone so long to have their power restored. Deplorable ! In this age of technology, they are operating in the stone age. With the $236 million they made last quarter (* 4 quarters =$944 Million) they can't upgrade anything ? Unreal. Time to kick them to the curb. I am glad Mayor Short & other elected officials from around the state are holding JCP&L accountable for these grievous errors & applaud the efforts of our Township & the Lineman who worked under tough conditions to restore our power. Maybe we should think like Alaskan Townships do ...Power company lineman are assigned areas to patrol never leaving their post, assigned to driving down every road in the area assigned to look for potential problems, keeping on top of everything. When issues arise, these people know their area inside & out, restoring quickly what needs to be fixed. When I was a kid, living here ..I can remember JCP&L within 6 to 12 hours in harsh weather conditions restoring our power, even though we were a rural area even in the 70's & 80's. What a difference it's been !

The township was trying to get the word out as days went on using their texting. The problem was that these messages required going to a website. Unfortunately, another victim of the power outage was the Verizon cell tower closest to the top of Schooley's Mountain. That tower was out until power was restored. So, information was NOT getting to us. Fortunately, our library had wifi so I was able to go there to get info and do business. I can't say enough positive things about the library staff and the facility. They were wonderful.

Thomas, please don't give us another "your doing a great job Brownie" moment.

Thanks Thomas for the idea & I will share with you the FaceBook group that anyone can join called "JCP&L needs to answer " which started out with a few members & now has 631 people from around NJ sharing info about what is needed to be done about JCP&L. We are hoping to have a public meeting with them on December 7th in Morristown at their headquarters. See the group site on FaceBook for emerging details. I have called the Lt.Govenor & Govenor Christie's office, next up BPU. We demand upgrades & reform ! Also, we can improve our way of sharing info. In our township as Mayor Short has talked about ..there will be a committee made up of concerned citizens who will brainstorm how we can spread vital info. for all of our Washington Township residents in the best manner. Thank you Tom also for keeping things positive. Instead of name-calling & mud slinging all of us can contribute energy into making life in our township the best it can be instead of wasting time bringing everyone down. That actually makes things worse, & we need all to rise above that ! Thank you !

The Group on FaceBook that was formed to unite concerned citizens who are holding JCP&L accountable & info. about public meetings scheduled to get reform & share all info related, articles, phone numbers to call our NJ state offices to get reform happening are there ..631 strong & climbing open to anyone on Face Book looking to make effective positive change for everyone in the great state of New Jersey. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/214956725303852/

I was not able to attend last night so I e-mailed my thoughts and suggestions to the committee members. Mayor Short sent back to me a transcript of his speech the contents of which cleared up a lot of my questions re: First Energy and JCP&L performance. Thank you Mayor Short.

Moving forward, the idea of a resident’s meeting to discuss the problems and hammer out solution proposals to present to the committee for action is a good one. Putting together a consolidated list containing emergency contact information, local sources for continuing updates, storm shelters, etc. and mailing it out with to residents with property tax bills is another good one.

I can’t predict how many more “storm of the century” events will occur any more than anyone else. If Irene and Sandy are any indications, we should call them what they are: “this year’s storm,” and PLAN AHEAD for them. To me, that means the state level beginning with BPU addressing past and present failures of First Energy/JCP&L and coordinating DPW activities across municipal and county lines. While our own DPW did an great job clearing roadways in our township, the southern-most ¼ mile of Beacon Hill Road—called Beacon Light Road by Tewksbury, the responsible municipality, is still impeded by downed trees creating a line-of-sight traffic hazard. Beacon Hill is a major commuter route to Rt. 78 and the Peapack-Gladstone NJT station.

I can not forgive the Mayor for going to Aruba during the crisis. His supporters attended this meeting. Many of us are still annoyed. I am sure if he had pleaded his case he could have gotten a refund since this was a state of emergency and he is an official. I can not wait to VOTE!

I'm still undecided as to how I feel about the mayor and his vacation trip. However, if Kevin Nedd is starting a recall petition that seals the deal for me. His petition will become a joke and he will continue to be the laughing stock of Washington Twp.

Kevin
I respectfully disagree with your earlier post re the audience at the Nov. 19 Township Committee meeting being composed of "fifty loyal Republicans". There were three Republicans who are recognizable as involved regularly in political activities, none of whom spoke at the meeting. Approximately seven residents spoke, of which I recognized two from their posts on Patch. The majority of the audience seemed to have come to hear what the Mayor and Committee had to say. They neither applauded, booed, or yelled out comments pro or con.
I believe I am going to be the first Committee person eligible for recall, under State law, so the residents who did not come to the meeting will have the opportunity to express their displease at the polls in 2013.

Mr. Tobin,

Rather disappointed to hear the word "respect" used toward this man, especially from a Republican committeeman.

Kevin, think again who's ignorant? Running a hateful recall campaign against a popular mayor when you have a criminal conviction for harassment hanging over your head. You have no credibility in this town. BTW, your one term on the committee was an epic fail and doesn't compare to Mr. Short's service to the town. Everyone knows you have a personal hatred for the mayor born out jealousy.

Kevin, Let me get this straight, you're going to run a recall campaign in 2014 with people who voted for you in 2008? What happens if your supposed 3700 supporters finds out about your harassment conviction? How far do you think you will get then? You sound very bitter, is your recall effort personal towards Mr. Short? Wouldn't your time be better spent making friends or giving back to the community in some way?

I have not lived in LV for too many years, but from what I have seen the charge you talk about re: Mr. Nedd is irrelevant to this issue as it did not involve Mayor Short. I agree with Mr. Nedd and many others in LV that the mayor was wrong to leave the township in the middle of our major crisis. Mr. Nedd's past and/or present has nothing to do with it. He and I do not know each other so this is not a personal issue between us and the same for Mayor Short. My feeling is based purely on extremely poor judgment shown by an elected official. Why do the posters on this site make everything personal? I would support the recall petition 100% in theory but I would have to see who the options are for replacement. Obviously, the vice-mayor who also left town would not be suitable.

No Jerry, I don't post in my name because of nasty, immature people like you who make these things personal. I have a family with young schoolchildren and I have become aware of the very small town atmosphere in LV. But you are free to continue in your ignorance and go off topic.

thewordgo, you don't post in your name because you are a COWARD, stop lying to yourself. It is embarrassing for your family to be publicly associated with Kevin Nedd.

Mr. Tobin, can you address my question? Any criticism of the town's handling would have to begin with the assumption that residents were negatively impacted by you being transitioned into running the final power restoration on site.

Do you feel that is true?

The word "respect" is disgusting in this instance, It will be remembered.

Mr. Nedd, Please get over yourself and this democratic vs. republican mind set and for once think about "the people of long valley" as a team or a group in need of help.
People keep harping on someone taking a vacation, so what!!!, What in the world would Mr. Short done here anyway that the second third forth or tenth in line couldnt do. Coordination went on and well in my opinion. The Police, Firemen and Town employees did a superb job. Now be nice and construtive or please keep to yourself we are tired of hearing negative and we know what party you support, so what !!!!

Pathetic hater. So, how much are you willing to bet you will win a recall election? How about the money goes to the town emergency services. I'm sure the townspeople will raise that to cover your bet for a good cause. How about $35k in a account? Put your money where your mouth is.

Respectfully, of course.

Mountain Man

In a response to earlier criticism of the Mayor, I made the point that I felt there was nothing more he could have done than I did in his absence. He had set all the plans for responding to Sandy in motion, but a "key player" (JCP&L) didn't come to the game or follow the plan. Our collective rear ends were saved by Duke Energy and other Out of State utilities.

I feel that I can respectfully disagree with another person where we disagree on facts and/or opinions. In this case it was a disagreement about whether the public attending the Nov. 19 Township Committee were all Republican supporters of the Mayor. Some people prefer to respond more aggressively. That is their choice, but I prefer a softer approach.

I want to say that I think the town and Mayor Short and Mr. Tobin and the hundreds of employees and volunteers did a great job, and I wish I was at this meeting to relay that.

I think it would be great if the political disagreement here could result in our emergency services benefiting by 35,000, as I understand the discussion is.

Mr. Nedd, I think this is called "walking the walk"? How about it? It is a win-win, and you seem so confident it wouldn't be money out of your pocket, You adversaries would have to make a donation on top of losing a recall. We could use the money!

Take the bet!! Go Kevin !!!

Can you name one person who agrees with you? I read a bunch of anonymous stuff here that sounded like you....then no one showed up with a single complaint.

So who is working with you on this recall? One name.

And take the bet! It helps the whole town.