Maybe Montclair Town Manager Joe Hartnett has been reading Tommy Russo’s numerous letters to the editor of the Montclair Times questioning Montclair’s current form of government, or maybe Hartnett saw the Baristanet poll…Grab your notepads: on March 1, Hartnett will conduct a public seminar about ways of running municipal government. From The town website:

“Recently there’s been a significant increase in requests for information about our form of government, how it works, what the various responsibilities are for officials, and so on,” said Manager Hartnett. “I assume that this heightened interest is because election season is coming and people are paying a lot more attention to municipal government. We thought it would be a good idea to offer information to many people at once, rather than doing it one person at a time,” he said.

The seminar will have an academic, non-partisan approach to provide citizens with a more comprehensive understanding of Montclair government in particular and municipal government in general. Differences between managing in government and managing in the private sector will also be covered in detail.

For information contact the office of the Township Manager at 973-509-4926.

33 replies on “Municipal Government 101”

  1. And, following the kaffe klatch, Benito Mussolini III will present a lecture on how to make the trains run on time.

  2. I’ve got the answer to how Montclair should be run: Privetize. Hire a private firm to run the township. Hey, and maybe they’ll outsource certain functions. When we’re having a problem with trash pick-up…”Come in, New Delhi!” It’ll be great, trust me.

  3. I think many of the frothing posters who pop up here would be well advised to attend. Gosh, they might even learn something.
    Personally, nevertheless, I’d rather hear walleroo lecture on “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

  4. Personally, nevertheless, I’d rather hear walleroo lecture on “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
    Baristanet would be happy to “co-sponsor” that seminar.

  5. “Personally, nevertheless, I’d rather hear walleroo lecture on ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.'”
    Me too. I hate long lectures.

  6. Only “co-sponsor?” Who else could I get if I promoted it? Is that a serious offer?
    And if it came off, could the catering then be by Rutt’s Hut?

  7. I accept. My fee is $40,000, payable in advance. Please mail a check to:
    The Campaign to Elect Walleroo
    etc

  8. Privatize, de-unionize and no pensions – let’s actually get stuff done and do it effeciently.
    Yeah! Those fatcat municipal workers, lighting their cigars with my tax dollars.

  9. Hartnett continued:
    “Some of the topics most important to citizens that we will cover include:
    – The top ten reasons I feel that I am underpaid
    – How to lower the budget and increase exposure by not paying for insurance
    -The municipal budget shell game: hiding tax increases by carving out budget items and billing them to residents separately
    – Techniques for placating insolent subjects, uhh informing well-meaning citizens
    – Why Ted Mattox is a such an f-ing skidmark
    Montclair residents should be everlastingly grateful to have this opportunity to bask in my aura, at least until someone asks me a stupid question and I (justifiably) storm out of the meeting.
    Hi-C and Munchkins will be served.
    Ciao!”

  10. It is not that you roll over in bed (or for a snack by Purina) that interests me somewhat, walleroo. It is who (or what)you roll over or roll upon there, as the case may be.

  11. Walleroo’s How to Make Friends and Influence People (Baristanet version):
    -make sure never to attack other people’s arguments without also attacking them personally;
    -write with absolute certainty, especially when you’re unsure of yourself;
    -write with passion, especially when you don’t care;
    -never miss a chance to call someone stupid or otherwise condescend;
    -never admit an error, especially when your opponent has copious data to the contrary;
    -target members of groups perceived as vulnerable, innocent or noble for the most vicious and gratuitous attacks (see DOT);
    -ways try to jump into even the most anodyne threads with vitriol and baseless assertions.
    All right, kids, that’s all for today. I see Conan is beginning to nod off, the simpleton, so I’ll stop for the nonce. Tommorrow: a guest lecture from ROC entitled “Lies, Dam Lies and Everything That Comes Out of My Mouth.”

  12. I doubt very much that Baristaville residents will pay $40,000, plus expenses, for the thin, seen-and-heard-it-before material such as walleroo offers above. Frankly, I expected more from him.
    Perhaps lasermikey is available for this booking stead? Or Mazie P, even?

  13. Spicolli, Walleroo
    You missed a couple:
    Facts aren’t facts unless I say they are
    Comparisons to any internal people or process are of no value. We have the best of everything and the rest of the country is only playing catch up.
    Why ask questions when you already know everything?

  14. And:
    As a last resort, bring out the big guns. Throw around quotes from Lew Rockwell or Pat Buchanan to back you up.

  15. I have yet to notice anyone ever quoting from Lew Rockwell (site or person) or Pat Buchanan. If only because there simly aren’t enough conservatives posting, let alone conservatives of those two peculiarly isolationist persuasions (and in Buchanan’s case more than a trace of anti-Semitism).

  16. I guess I am still reeling because someone on another site I frequent countered one of my arguments concerning terrorism by posting some “philosophy” from Lew Rockwell, whom I consider another tinfoil hat-wearer.
    I was surprised to learn that he’s a Roman Catholic, though.

  17. Miss Martta, quite a few of the isolationists, the we-shouldn’t-have-been-in-WWII-and-screw-the=Civil-War-while-we’re-at-it crowd over at lrc.com are Catholics. Sort of like the staff at National Review was once heavily that way too, maybe. There’s also maybe a point where they join hands with the far, far left, the crowd which really misses Communism, based on who posts there.
    You’re certainly on the mark with the “tinfoil hat” observation about them. It’s amazing that they’re still writing as if Ron Paul has a chance.
    One saving grace for Lew Rockwell himself, though: he seems to be personally gracious and he runs all those items about archaeology which I like reading there.

  18. ‘Roo, you are a marsupial among marsupials, if you know what I mean. That’s why you should be mayor for life. Of course, there are term limits…

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