Allenhurst-Loch Arbour merger sees setback 'It's extremely frustrating'

By Hannah Walker

A misstep has caused Allenhurst to halt plans to consolidate with Loch Arbour — but Loch Arbour Mayor Paul Fernicola says the issue isn’t a deal-breaker.

The two boroughs plan to merge, enabling Loch Arbour to leave the Ocean Township school district to join Allenhurst’s send-receive, per-pupil deal with Asbury Park’s school system. The move is expected to lower property taxes for Loch Arbour homeowners.

But a Department of Education [DOE] representative recently said in a conference call that the merge would create a new school district, despite previous communications from the DOE that Loch Arbour would simply join Allenhurst’s existing district. This gave Allenhurst pause due to uncertainty about what a new district would mean legally.

“At that point I said, ‘This is not acceptable, I hadn’t heard this before, and we cannot proceed,'” Mayor David McLaughlin said at the Jan. 22 commissioners’ meeting.

The DOE representative involved in the call was unfamiliar with written correspondence between DOE Commissioner Chris Cerf and the two towns, Commissioner Terence Bolan said.

After the conference call, Department of Education representatives were quick to explain the error, and to advise the towns, “Don’t get your proverbial underwear in a bundle,” Bolan said.

But the mistake was cause enough for Allenhurst to step away from the consolidation plans for now.

“It was a giant step backwards. Like where you heard the ‘click click,’ and didn’t want to pick your foot up because you might have stepped on a land mine,” Bolan said.

Allenhurst officials have decided to focus on the Sandy repair process instead, shelving consolidation plans until further notice.

The town has drafted a letter to Loch Arbour Mayor Paul Fernicola saying it is up to him to get the consolidation process back on track by ensuring that those involved in future conference calls are familiar with the concerns and wishes of both Allenhurst and Loch Arbour.

FERNICOLA’S PLAN

Loch Arbour Mayor Fernicola hopes to meet with Commissioner Cerf and Mayor McLoughlin in person to remediate the issue, saying they will be able to cover more ground that way than they would through written correspondence or conference calls.

“It’s extremely frustrating to say the least,” he said of the setback.

Fernicola does not blame Allenhurst’s governing body for backing off, calling the miscommunication about the new school district “significant” because it “injects uncertainty” into the legal technicalities of the merger.

Still, “I don’t think the DOE has changed its position” on the merger, Fernicola said, adding that the towns need confirmation that a new school district will not be formed, and that Loch Arbour will simply join Allenhurst’s existing district.

The issue is not insurmountable, though, he said.

“It may actually help us in the long run to get more focused on the DOE so that in the future we don’t have these miscommunications,” Fernicola said. “In the short term, it’s detrimental because it puts things on hold.”

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[Molly Mulshine contributed reporting.]

Jan 24, 2013