To the Editor:
I know a sales pitch when I hear one. There are clear indicators.
- A sales pitch focuses on the positives, which are typically exaggerated. Think: “snake oil.”
- Negatives are minimized and, typically, eliminated. Think: “do not pay attention to that man behind the curtain.”
- Anyone asking common-sense questions in an effort to make a fact-based evaluation is either circled back to the positives, where the negatives are minimized, or, if persistent, they are deterred, demeaned and dismissed.
Then again, the community energy aggregation process does not appear to have been presented for critical analysis. It only came across as persuasive. The result was a forgone conclusion. Why else would Township Committee member Kevin Kuchinski say in an email to Concord Energy representative Staci Scaduto, acting administrator Elaine Borges and then-candidate for Township Committee Courtney Peters-Manning on October 28, 2019: “We plan to introduce (energy aggregation) in November (2019).”
After attending all four public community energy aggregation sessions, I have reached the inescapable conclusion that the roll-out had all the earmarks of a sales pitch.
By the way, I would have attended the private presentations that the Township gave to the Four Seasons and Wellington Manor Homeowner Associations in September, 2019, but they were not advertised for public view. Perhaps, those two presentations were only given to influence critical voters without stirring-up a hornet’s nest of public scrutiny prior to the Township Committee election in November, 2019.
Now that the window dressing of public relations is out of the way, the Township can get to the business of slamming 6,000 residences into energy aggregation. And slam they did. The ordinance was introduced at the regular Committee meeting on February 3 and was approved on February 18.
Harvey Lester,
Titusville, NJ
