Former Councilwoman Cindy Burham playfully pursues a member of the public who loudly accused her of failing to bathe before a hearing on water rate hikes. (video screen grab from Red Bank Specator by Viscomi Facebook page. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
With the smell of raw sewage from a broken main wafting not far from Borough Hall, Red Bank’s mayor and council gave final approval to a plan to raise water and sewer rates 46 percent over the next five years.
But not before a strange spat broke out among resident attendees over allegations of body odor. redbankgreen rounds up an odiferous, if fairly unremarkable, meeting of the borough council.
The late mayor Michael Arnone at a Republican event in 2015.
• A public hearing was held on the plan to raise water and sewer rates for the first time since 2015. A single member of the public spoke and the council passed the rate hike ordinance by unanimous vote. The first hike will raise water rates from $7.11 per 1,000 gallons to $7.79 on August 5. The plan tops out at a cost of $10.35 per 1,000 gallons in the final year. Sewer rates will remain 125 percent of water rates.
• A moment of silence was held for former Mayor Michael Arnone, who died earlier this month.
• Another was held for the victim of a homicide outside 124 River Street this week. Authorities have not released the name of the man killed in the shooting, in which another man was injured.
Mayor Billy Portman does a double take as body odor allegations stun the gallery.
• Earlier in the meeting, as former councilwoman Cindy Burnham was preparing to deliver public comments, she was met with a loud insult – “you smell unwashed!” – from resident Barbara Monahan.
“I know I was sweating but I didn’t think I smell that bad” Burnham replied. “She should be evicted from this meeting.”
After her remarks on the topic of water rates the former councilwoman followed her accuser around the chambers, prancing with arms aflutter to better circulate whatever alleged odors she had been accused of emitting.
“I think it’s funny,” she said. The rest of those in attendance, including members of the governing body, appeared stunned.
For the record, a redbankgreen reporter with a notoriously keen sense of smell spent several moments chatting with the former councilwoman before the meeting and did not detect any hint of the allegedly offensive emanations. It was a long sweaty day for us too, including photographing the sewage spill just moments before the meeting, though. Maybe it was us?
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