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Preservation Trust Board Ousts Two Top Officials
Stock Option Trading The director and assistant director of the Garden State Preservation Trust were fired yesterday as the McGreevey administration completed its takeover of the state agency that oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in open space and historic preservation funding.
A state trust charged with saving farmland approved spending $3.2 million yesterday to preserve 689 acres on 11 Burlington County farms. The appropriation is part of a $73.2 million package approved by the Garden State Preservation Trust, officials said. The state Legislature and Gov. James E. McGreevey still must approve before the money can be distributed.
Currency Day Trading The Democratic governor's representatives on the board of trustees voted to fire Director Judy Jengo and Assistant Director John Gilbert, Republican appointees who have run the trust since its inception in 1999. The board then voted to appoint Ralph Siegel, an administration troubleshooter, as director, and John Penn Jr., a financial adviser, as assistant director. Their appointments take effect Jan. 5.
"It's an opportunity to continue to piece together the greenway, " Haines said. The freeholders plan to use money from the county's land preservation trust fund to cover the cost of the privately owned property, which is estimated to be $186, 000. The trust fund is supported by a dedicated tax levied in addition to the county's general tax. The freeholders are not seeking funds from Willingboro Council for the purchase, but Haines said local officials endorse their effort to buy the property.
Financial Software Trading Jengo's days as trust director were numbered after she refused to resign soon after Gov. James McGreevey took office in 2002. She could not be fired because trustees appointed by Republican Gov. Christie Whitman still controlled the agency's nine-member board. The McGreevey administration gained the majority in October.
Two more farms are now on the preservation list. The Burlington County Board of Freeholders saved the farms Wednesday as part of its farmland preservation program at a cost of $1.1 million. The board authorized the final agreements to buy easement rights that will bar all future development on the Arthur Puglia Jr. Farm in Mansfield and the Stephen Walder Farm in Springfield, assuring they will remain in agriculture.
Online Stock Trading Company "It is the majority of the board's prerogative to make a change," said state Deputy Treasurer Dave Rousseau, who guided the action during the tense meeting yesterday. "It is not a reflection on the work of Judy or John. It was time to make a change."
Five years ago, New Jersey voters approved the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund, a decades worth of money to preserve a million acres of open space and farmland. The fund made $98 million available for preservation each year for ten years. Since then, over 300, 000 acres have been added to New Jerseys inventory of preserved lands, including local parks, wetlands, farmlands and forests. So when it came time to ask voters to amend the Garden State Preservation Trust to take advantage of low interest rates, they did it again this Fall, 1!
Forex Day Trading Over the past two years, Jengo opposed the administration's decision to take trust money to fight the state budget deficit. During that time, the administration transferred at least $105 million into the state's general fund and took $15 million to help finance the budgets of four departments connected with preserving open space. The trust oversees the distribution of about $300 million for open space and preservation annually.
Kocsis own the farm in Kingwood Township. They agreed to sell a preservation easement for $210, 800. The Moreira Family LLC owns the Raritan Township farm and agreed to sell a preservation easement for $1.7 million. Susan Barbara Henssler and the Hazel M. Harrison Living Trust own the farms in East Amwell Township. Henssler agreed to a $864, 500 deal, and the trust agreed to a $707, 000 deal.
Financial In Market Yesterday, Rousseau said Jengo's opposition was not a factor in the firings. Jengo declined to comment on her clashes with the McGreevey administration, but released a statement stressing that, "through the independence of the trust, the state's preservation watchdog," the money available for open space and historic preservation was increased by $600 million.
Stock Trading System The votes yesterday were cast along party lines. The trust's four Republican members opposed the ouster of Jengo and Gilbert. They abstained from voting on the appointment of Siegel and Penn, saying they knew nothing about their qualifications.
Day Trading Stock Tip "We had no opportunity to search for and review those best qualified for a position like this," former Assemblywoman Maureen Ogden (R-Essex), said of Siegel's appointment. "I feel this position requires someone with a strong background in open space and conservation."
Financial Forex Forex Software Siegel, 47, is chief of policy and communications with the Department of Agriculture's State Agriculture Development Commission. Last month, he was temporarily moved to help handle media for the Division of Youth and Family Services, the state's troubled child protection agency. Siegel was an Associated Press Statehouse reporter when he joined the administration as a treasury spokesman in 2002. He was part of the treasury team that pushed for the sale of $500 million in trust bonds last spring.
Stock Market Trading "I would like to see the trust take a premier role in coordinating a strong public relations campaign to show people what has been accomplished with their money," Siegel said. "We need to build on that to sustain these programs."
Day Lesson Stock Tip Trading Rousseau said Penn is a financial adviser familiar with bonding. He was a deputy director in the state Department of Commerce and Economic Development from 1986 to 1990. He is the son of former Assemblyman Jack Penn (R-Somerset). Siegel will make $95,000 annually, and Penn will be paid $81,000.
Financial System Trading Jengo has been in state government for 18 years. She was a deputy environmental commissioner before being named to head the trust.
Day Trading Future By Tom Hester
Star-Ledger - 12/23/2003
Topic: NJ Legislature & Politics
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