TOMS RIVER, NJ – The Ocean County Board of Commissioners gives out awards annually. It’s something the governing body has been doing for decades. Some awards are new; others have been being awarded by the board for many years.
You can visit the Ocean County Commissioner’s website to see which awards are available and who has won past awards.
There are some great achievements listed on the county’s website, including the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award, the Pauline S. Miller Lifetime Award, and the John C. Bartlett Jr. Government Leadership Award.
Like most rewards given by the government, recipients are usually friends of the board or in some way politically connected, but not always. It’s also not uncommon for a commissioner to be the recipient of a reward in their name.
In 2012, the commissioners created the John C. Bartlett award, and its first recipient was longtime Freeholder John C. Bartlett back in 2012 because he sort of deserved it. The man was a true government leader in Ocean County for decades until his death in 2018.
Since then, the award has been given out annually, often to public figures as a parting gift for their party loyalty.
Heck, even Commissioner Joe Vicari has an award in his name, the Joseph H. Vicari Ocean County Tourism Award. That has been given out since 2017 and, like other awards, usually to party allies and insiders, but not always. Joe Vicari has never won his own award.
Then there’s the Virginia E. Haines Historic Advocate Award, created in 2020 and only awarded once to none other than Virginia E. Haines. Haines was awarded for a documentary produced by county employees detailing how she has lived off the government since she was just two years old, living in public housing provided by the county to her father, a worker at the Ocean County Park in Lakewood, seventy years ago.
The video had a total of 65 views on YouTube over the past two years and was hardly a blockbuster. The video ends with a notification that Haines was the 2020 recipient of her own award, which was for a documentary she created.
The award was actually given to her before the documentary was even published, so go figure.
That was the only time the award was given to anyone. There were no recipients in 2021 or 2022, making the award essentially meaningless and imaginary, given to a freeholder, essentially from herself to herself.
Only in Ocean County, folks.
If you want to see the riveting documentary and join the few dozen others who have seen it online, click here.