Tuesday they were sent? I live 3 blocks from the high school and just got my ballot this afternoon. Someone is full of it. I mail things all the time - it doesn't take 3 days for my family 4 states away...

Another stealth ballot by the superintendent? I got mine Wednesday, but they sure do seem to make it hard to get out the vote. The voting is not until after 2 pm, making it after work for those who do work. How about a press release to get out the vote!

I find it alarming the powder mill neighborhood has yet to receive the sample ballot as well. I have never had a problem with the Morris Plains post office delivering mail. Interestingly enough the mailman said he never received them for this area. Whether or not you will be voting yes or no everyone has a right to be informed.

On your way to the polling place stop and pick up an elderly person. Try to even the playing field. Seems like they don't want everyone to see when it is the day.

All you doubters keep the faith - Word just in that the school district flyer letting us know that there is an upcoming Referendum and why we should support the expenditure of $7.7 million is in the mail.
What? No mail on Monday because it is a Holiday and Tuesday is the election?.
Relax Toto. Rermember There's no place like Parsippany.... There's no place like... There's no place,,, There's just a no vote to protest the failure of the BOE to trust Parsippany residents with the information they need to cast an intelligent vote. Enough is enough

Parhome you received one but we and many others have not received ours yet. Do you want everyone to be aware of the election?

We are not in Brookhollow and I did not receive mine. I learned about it on Friday when my husband received his. If it was not for his, we would not of known about

Just received it in today's (Saturday) mail

Again - all losing sight on what is trying to be accomplished. The BOE has done everything, as required by law, to have this referendum. They have also done everything, as asked by the people, to maintain control of the fields, put it to a referendum and do it in a timely manner so not another year goes by with these despicable field conditions.
It's a beautiful, sunny day. Go take a walk around the Hills and the High. Go see for yourself what we are so passionately fighting for. Go and thoroughly read the information on the BOE website and make and INFORMED decision.
Please don't vote NO out of spite, because spite never fixed anything that I am aware of. If you truly don't like the plan - that's fine and that's your opinion. But to just vote no because you didn't get your ballot on time (through no faulty of the BOE), or because you may think that this was a back handed deal, or your don't like the fact that the vote is in January - these are all irrelevant to the issue at hand - DEPLORABLE, OUT-DATED, UNSAFE, EMBARRASSING FIELDS AT BOTH OUR HIGH SCHOOLS.
There has been a plan on the table for a year. It has changed hands and scope - but the outcome is still the same TO FIX OUR FIELDS ONCE AND FOR ALL. No 'half-ass' band aids - real fixes that will benefit the entire community.

Darn The neighborhood I live in which is adjacent to Parsippay High School Field didn't get the BOE mailer in today's mail. Sure hope it gets to us before we all vote on Tuesday so that we can make an INFORMED decision.
Tried to act on Beth's suggestion to walk around the field at PHS but the entrance to the field is blocked by a locked gate because the path leading up to the field was declared to be unsafe by Superintendent Seitz eighteen months ago. With that kind of track record why not fork over another $7.7 milion to the BOE and Superintendent Seitz. After all it's just money

Well said Beth Bluj.

Beth, I got my ballot in the mail today...very easy to read and understand. I will have no trouble finding the YES button. Try not to be bother too much by Bob Crawford, he is the worst obstructionist I ever seen. He sees only the bad in people and events, and does everything he can to destroy what good people try to do. Not once have I ever heard him propose anything that would help our kids. I want to see his face Tuesday evening when the wonderful citizens of this town vote to improve our athletic facilities for our kids. Keep up the good work Beth.

George
Let me know where you will be on Tuesday evening and I'll join you to watch the results come in. Here's to an informed public making the right decison
Cheers!
Bob

Just an update live in the vicinity of Brooklawn and no ballot for me either.
I do have a question, Who can reasonably not be suspicious about this and some of the other things surrounding this whole FOD from the start?
Yes the fields need more than work
Yes other towns put us to shame with field conditions
and Yes our leadership has given us nothing to trust them on
Fortunately I am aware of this referendum but there are too many Im afraid are not

Ok - it's Saturday night and still no sample ballot in my mailbox. Luckily, I know about the vote date and time.

Can anyone on this thread type in the ballot wording here as a response, so I can review it before I make a trip to my polling place?

And, can anyone on or near Brooklawn let me know if I'm supposed to vote at St. Chrostophers like I always do?

This has been an absurd experience waiting for sample ballot materials at the very last minute, unlike general elections where they arrive a week or more earlier, but I guess it's to be expected.

Wait until the Parsippany Soccer Club gets their hands on the new fields if it passes. Just think...they don't clean up after themselves if the cans are full...just throw it on the ground until the PHS clean up staff does it which they aren't supposed to do. With the amount of wear and tear on the fields after the PSC gets to use it, the refurbish time should be about 8 years. Then we will be hit with another 8 year tax. Please use your senses Parsippany people and vote this project down.

The info has been on the district site including polling places and the ballot is very simple, vote yes or no to bonding for the project that will provide a multi-purpose turf field, handicap access and parking, new 6 lane track, new fencing, lights, and restrooms. The link is right in the article itself http://www.morriscountyclerk.org/html/Elections/13-Parsippany%20Sample.pdf. You might have missed it if you were anxious to try to post that the schools were responsible for you not getting your sample ballot when again, the article itself says that responsibility lies with the county office. Its too bad that some have tried to use the much needed improvements of our fields as a platform for personal agendas like attacking the super & boe every step of the way or like trying to point out concerns when you actually live by to the school & don't want lights. It's too bad that some can't put their personal issues aside for the 7000 students who will benefit from these improved fields. I wonder if we were back a few years ago talking about the town bonding to make the improvements needed to the tennis courts to make them usable and not an "embarrassment", would a former boe member be working so hard against or for the project? I'm transporting 3 sets of us seniors to the polls on Tuesday from my church, book club and yoga class. We are all grandparents first, have easily kept ourselves very informed and are all voting yes because it's the right thing to do for the 7000 children.

What's "simple" is that you can't trust the people who are entrusted to care for the new $7.7 million taxpayer investment with a houseplant.

The info hasn't been on the district site including polling places and the ballot is very complicated,vote yes or no to bonding for the project that will provide a multi-purpose turf field for everyone and their mother to use day and well into the night,handicapble access and parking, new 6 lane track,new fencing, lights that you will be able to see from the moon,and restrooms where God knows what will take place at night.Just ask our former Gov McGreevy what happens at public restrooms at Garden State Parkway rest stops.YUK!!!The link is currently not working and in the the article.You might have missed it if you were anxious trying to find out where to vote and looking for the ballot that should have been mailed to you by law.Its too bad that I have tried to use the much needed improvements of our fields as a platform for my personal agenda like attacking my fellow residents every step of the way or like trying to point out concerns when you actually live by to the school & don't want lights because you are extorted for confiscatory property taxes. It's too bad that I can't put my personal issues aside for the 7000 students,who rank poorly for academics,who will benefit from these Cadillac Plan type fields.I wonder if I were back a few years ago with my time machine would I play he lotto numbers or bet on sports to make money?We are all grandparents first,have easily kept ourselves very informed and are all voting NO because it's the right thing to do for the 7000 children.

(1 of 2)

Carol - you don't know how I'm going to vote, and I've been supportive of the BoE having control. Beth can even tell you that Ive attended all meetings and vocalized support for the fields if controlled by BoE. And I've written an open letter here on the Patch thanking the BoE. Not sure if your comments were directed at me. If so, is say a tad unfair and grossly misdirected.

I have had no idea what the exact ballot wording is. Although supportive, I wanted to see exact scope and cost. It's my legal right as a resident (not even a taxpayer) to have advance access to the materials by mail. That what I was asking.

(Sent from my iPhone. Pardon typos).

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The BoE supposedly mailed their own flyer, which I never received either. I know the clerk mails, and I know the post office is blamed, but my point was that since we've known about this so long, there was no need to wait to mail until the last minute - especially since people commented this has happened before. Wouldn't it be in the BoE interest to have something out early? inform voters and get them out to cast! The clerk mails at the direction of the town/BoE since they need wording and guidance. The clerk doesn't decide what to mail and how to word it. It's provided to them. So BoE and town do have some ownership of the process and could have been more proactive. For general elections, I've received the ballot a good week or two ahead.

I like being vocal on issues like this because we as residents and taxpayers can help influence change. I do have a strong personal feeling that this could have been handled in a more proactive way to make sure people who don't surf the Patch and local government sites, and largely don't participate in town activities could even know about the vote.

Thank you, kindly, for the link with ballot info. I'm checking it out now.

(Sent from my iPhone. Pardon typos).

One more thing... Has anyone received the BoE mailer? What does it look like and what does it say?

Kristen - contact me offline - I think you have my email address.

I wonder how much use the "Parsippany" Soccer club will have of these fields. They already use the majority of our town's fields free of charge and from what I was able to discern, (correct me if I am wrong) only 3 players from their national champion team are actually from Parsippany. It is not really a "Parsippany" team. Yet, we pay for the fields, the lights, the maintenance, etc. This does not seem right to me. I want my tax dollars to go towards actual Parsippany residents.

One other point - with the majority being not from Parsippany and playing for surrounding high-schools, we are actually helping make these players better, with our tax dollars who then compete against our own high school teams.

No ballots on my street. It's a shame more was not done to inform the public. It just perpetuates the impression that this is not all above board. Could inadequate public notification render the vote void? The BOE flyer is incredibly one-sided supporting the referendum. Some notable misleading statements are: "the BOE can set aside in a capital improvement reserve account $40,000 tp $50,000 to fund the cost of replacement" - that estimate is for ONE field, not TWO. It's also misleading to say in the flyer the replacement cost should not have a significant impact on yearly operating budgets.... It's still tax dollars!

The promotion of the referendum by using the cost to an average homeowner does little to help. Why don't they tell the public the relative % increase in school taxes? That would apply to everyone.... My guess it that approach would cause many to realize this is much bigger than they want us to believe.
If you go the Hills high school.. take a look at the flag pole at the field and in front of the school. those are 25 feet tall.... the light towers will be more than 3 times the height of the flag poles!... These will be an eyesore when the lights are off... not to mention when they are on. Why is that information not mentioned in the BOE flyer?
The flyer makes no reference to the incremental operating expenses associated with the fields.. either the BOE does not know or they choose to not tell us... but we all know there's more expense here.

Analli - you are 100% wrong about part of your statement. The flyer was sent from the BOE - we all paid for this flyer to go out with our tax dollars.

Analli, as Michael said the flyer was paid for with our tax dollars. The BOE should share all the facts, pros and cons with the tax payers. The flyer was not objective. Clearly the BOE is on the side of the recreation groups,and wants to avoid the difficult decisions if the referendum does not pass.
If they were doing their job, and really wanted the residents to decide, they would do a better job of being objective when communicating on this topic.

We need a referemdum on buying $15 million worth of Mercedes-Benz luxury buses so the kiddies can travel to school with heated leather seats.

Beth - just saw this now. I don't have your email. I'm at kristen_ritter@yahoo.com. I just don't have the BoE flyer yet, but was able to see the sample ballot that Carol put the link to on here. I'm in agreement with Peter (above) as my neighbors across the street who aren't involved at all in town and don't read Patch or go to meetings had NO idea that there was even a vote at all. And that scary since they pay taxes in Paraippany and would be affected. No vote or sample ballot for them yet -- and the next chance for them to get it is on voting day. Just sloppy work.

Just like Nancy Reagan told you to say NO to drugs, the sensible people of Parsippany are asking you to say NO to parents who are addicted to wasteful school spending.

Why does anyone think the BOE has to be objective? They have their own objectives and want to pass them.

Monica, Maybe it was actually Fran or Debra posing as Carol M??

Yes seriously who ever is doing that it needs to stop. Whether you agree or disagree with somebody it is totally disrespectful to make names pretending to be somebody else. It is not good for patch. Be respectful of EVERYONE's opinion whether you agree or disagree. We don't need to do name calling and immature stuff like that. Remember We're ALL suppose to be ADULTS now start acting like it.

I resist the temptation to read the patch let alone to add any comment. Although I think the Natalie’s work here is commendable and the Patch has served as a balanced resource for information about Parsippany, it’s obvious that most on here (not all) intend only to use the comment section for diatribe. Worse yet they hide behind fictitious names in cowardly attacks on one another. My name is Rick Nogueira and I live on Brooklawn Dr.; and I am using this posting as a record. I, like so many others impacted, have not received any sample ballot.
I am a resident of Parsippany Troy Hills and I am likely the most impacted by this referendum because of my proximity to the field. My position on the referendum is irrelevant; the issue is the democratic process which is based on principles of democracy. Democracy is a form of government where all citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. How can an uninformed citizen cast a vote? Those ballots should have been sent to ALL who will be affected by this vote. That is the only way a democracy can work.

I just received my ballot, along with all of my neighbors today at 4:00PM. The day of the voting!!