Tantillo Appointed to OCUA

Two months ago when the Manasquan River Regional Sewerage Authority for the upcoming year Howell representatives Jesse Tantillo and Thomas Savino were the only two members of the authority to .

As of this week Tantillo has a new role as the Monmouth County representative on the Ocean County Utility Authority. Tantillo said he is excited for this new opportunity as a way to hopefully bridge the gap between the two groups. "I think it's going to be good having a direct link between the OCUA and MRRSA," he said. "We'll have a little direct communication at this point."

Tantillo's efforts with the MRRSA budget were not lost on members of the Howell Township Council including Councilman Robert Nicastro. "It became evident for me and the governing body during our discussions with the representatives from Howell, Freehold and Farmingdale on the MRRSA budget that our representatives Jessie Tantillo or Tom Savino would be the right choice to represent the County Freeholders as the OCUA representative," he said. 

Nicastro said he believes Tantillo will represent the county and the town well now on both boards. "Howell's representatives demonstrated that status quo was unacceptable and tough decisions need to be made by MRRSA," he said. "We are confident Jessie Tantillo will represent to the best of his ability all the towns rate payers," from Monmouth County that are impacted by the Ocean County authority. 

The appointment fills the last year of an unexpired term but Tantillo said he is hopeful for a productive year with the OCUA and then see where things go from there. 

After the first meeting on Monday Tantillo said he already has a better idea about the authority than he did going into the appointment. "We really didn't know how their financials were set up," he said. "My goal is to see if anything can be done to keep the rates in check because we've been getting a rate increase every year from them."

Unlike MRRSA, the OCUA has union workers which Tantillo said complicates some of the cost cutting measures that could otherwise be taken. He also said just because salaries may not be able to be cut, he would look at other ways to save the rate payers money. "Who knows if there's any other sort of cost cutting," he said. 

The OCUA has 10 voting members and 12 total members with Tantillo being the lone representative from Monmouth County. Tantillo said he believes with the members working together where they come from should not be a factor in their decision making. "It's still a vote just like every other commissioner has a vote," he said. "If they all have an open mind and listen to what I have to say it shouldn't make a difference if I'm from Monmouth or Ocean County considering everyone pays the same price. Everybody is sharing the cost."

Tantillo said as the youngest and newest commissioner it will be a learning experience but one he is looking forward to. "It's something new," he said. "It's a larger scale than MRRSA. I think I have a lot I can learn and hopefully have some stuff that I can bring some fresh ideas as well."