HOWELL TOWNSHIP, NJ – Just weeks before the upcoming election in Howell Township where a controversial plan to convert a tree stump recycling facility into a larger facility to accommodate construction waste, steel, concrete, and other building materials, township councilwoman Pamela Richmond said it’s not a big deal. She also said those who oppose the dump are spreading “bullcrap and rumors”.
“It’s already here,” Richmond said in a video she published to YouTube. “This is what the Democrats are trying to get you fooled about.”
Driving down Randolph Road passed the site of the proposed transfer station by powerful Republican party officials said, “Most people don’t know this, but all of this debris in this recycling center is already here. Most of you probably pass it and don’t know about it.”
“All of these mountains and mountains of dirt and mulch…is already here in Howell,” Richmond said.
Richmond said the Democrats are trying to mislead voters, but according to documents on file with the county, the new facility will expand materials taken into the dumpsite to include concrete, home improvement debris, commercial construction debris, expanding the business and therefore increasing the volume of traffic.
There’s no doubt about it, a political fix is in play in Howell, stopped only by Mayor Theresa Berger and residents who complained two years ago before the project was to be rubber-stamped by the Monmouth County Freeholders, the former township council and the Solid Waste Advisor Committee.
Now, Mayor Berger is calling for an investigation by the Attorney General’s office.
“We have serious concerns that the proposal will be approved without our consent and over our objection, in violation of the clear procedures required by state law. As the chief law enforcement officer in our State, we respectfully request that you take immediate action to stop any action or prospective approvals by the Freeholders,” the request to the Attorney General reads.
“I’m concerned that once the election is over if the Republicans win, the waste transfer station project will be put on the fast track,” Berger said. “We must do everything in our power to protect Howell and stop the dump.”
“They’re going to take this material and expand it to a different kind of debris,” Richmond admitted at the end of the video. Richmond was the target of a mailer by Democrats earlier this month that rehashed her 2016 drunk driving incident.