Wefer for Morris County Freeholder

Contact: Dana Wefer's Campaign For Immediate Release
Phone: (973)610-0491
Email: DanaWefer@gmail.com

WEFER BLASTS MORRIS COUNTY FREEHOLDERS FOR "NEGLIGENT" CELL PHONE POLICY

Morristown, November 1, 2006-

Dana Wefer, Democratic Candidate for Morris County Freeholder, blasted the Freeholder Board Thursday for negligent oversight of county cell phone use. Wefer says she requested information on how many employees have county subsidized cell phones and how many employees have their own cell phones but whose bills are in part subsidized by the county and was shocked to find that there is no hard record of this information.
"I cannot believe that there is no system in place to keep track of how much money is being spent by the county on cell phones," Wefer said. The county did not give Wefer any exact information on how much money was spent on cell phones last year because it does not keep track of that information. Instead, they gave Wefer a survey that was taken last year of different county departments and how many cell phones each department has. Wefer contends that there is no way of telling how accurate it is since it seems to have been conducted so informally.

Wefer pointed out several areas of opportunity in the cell phone policy. The Superintendent of elections had 10 cell phones last year with the justification being that they have to keep in touch with onsite technicians during the election. Wefer argues that this is a prime example of why the cell phone policy needs to be revamped. "Couldn’t they just purchase disposable cell phones for the weeks when elections are held?" Wefer questioned. "Was it really necessary to have 10 cell phones year round, just so they can be contacted a few nights a year?" Wefer also pointed out that the Youth Shelter had 9 cell phones, weights and measures 10, and the engineering department 16. Wefer proposed that instead of being on a contract, the county should explore having prepaid phones for many of these departments. Since many of these phones are for emergencies and on-call personnel, prepaid phones would help the county keep better track of how much money is being spent on cell phones and would save taxpayers money since they would only be paying for what is actually used. "It just makes no sense to be paying $35.00 a month for phones that are used only in emergencies," Wefer said Thursday.

Wefer is making her second run for Freeholder after an impressive showing last year. She is the sole female candidate in a field of six candidates. Her two running mates are Mine Hill Mayor Rich Leary and Chatham Township Councilman Jack Hartford. Democrats are widely regarded as having an unprecedented opportunity to win seats on the currently all Republican Freeholder Board.

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