Dear Editor:
Just because former mayor Barberio is no longer in office does not mean his last term in office is not still causing harm to Parsippany in various ways. During his last administration, Mr. Barberio and his cohorts on the town council waited until the last six months of his term to make a “visit” to the Lake Hiawatha Library to see how to utilize the $6 million of state and city money that had been available since his last term began on January 1, 2022.
After the visit, the former mayor said he would not put a nickel towards renovating the present building; he thought it needed to be replaced. I wholeheartedly agreed with that statement. Prior to his visit, I brought up the subject of the Lake Hiawatha Library several times at council meetings, only to have it brushed aside by former Mayor Barberio or one of his council members who were dedicated to rubber-stamping whatever the former mayor put in front of them. Thankfully, we have new council members on the current council who see things differently, led by our new Council President.
At this juncture, Mayor Desai is moving forward to make desperately needed changes to the existing building. However, there is a catch. During Mr. Barberio’s last term in office, as the project made zero headway, the cost of construction has risen dramatically. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has confirmed that construction costs have increased by 41.8% during the past five years, ending on December 31, 2025.
That means that 42 cents of every dollar spent on the library project will now be wasted because of Mr. Barberio’s inaction. When residents of Parsippany learn that certain items have to be scaled back or eliminated from what could have been included, or that more funds are needed for the completion of the project, think back to all the time the funding sat idle because of our former mayor. That extra 42-cent overhead on the $6 million of funds that were available comes to $2.5 million! That money could have and should have been put to far better use if former Mayor Barberio had acted with the same level of enthusiasm as he did with other projects that came across his desk. Now take a guess what those other projects were and who was behind them.
The former mayor and some past and present council members who were in office during the last administration did nothing to push Mr. Barberio to help our community. Former town council member Frank Neglia was a member of the Parsippany Library Board of Trustees during this time frame, which in my mind makes his inaction all the more egregious. This is all because no plan was developed to use the funding that was available for four long years.
The lack of interest by former Mayor Barberio and some former council members lies somewhere between incompetence and malfeasance.
Rich Suarez
