IN THE BEGINNING

Frank Donfrio is the Board of Trustees at Covered Bridge. He rules it with fear and intimidation. And no one knows better than his VP Sid Leveson. Sid should have been thrown off the Board after manipulating the last election due to ethical misconduct. But Frank saved him so Sid could help him manipulate the current Board. And they have been doing a great job.

How did Frank get started? He was brought in by the person we call affectionately "The Big Guy". "The Big Guy" was tired of the lack of performance by the "Property Management Team"(The team is still in place and is currently suing Covered Bridge for hundreds of thousands of Dollars) and brought in Frank to fire them. The then President's health was failing and he needed to step down.

Once the former president stepped down and Mr. Donfrio took over as president, "The Big Guy" assumed he(Frank) would fire the Management Team. Instead, he let them stay because to quote his current friend, attack dog and gofer, "Frank has no B..ls". In addition. he spent the first year accomplishing nothing. He wouldn't listen to and frustrated "The Big Guy". And the rest of the Board was a bunch of bungling idiots. After all, they brought us the Deferred Compensation Lawsuit.

Mr. Donofrio knew he needed a new Board. He proposed a slate of Sid Leveson and the other two Senior elected members of the current board. He used "The Big Guy" to attack the existing members of the Board at candidates night. This was, incidentally, totally unethical by Covered Bridge standards, but to paraphrase Mr. Donofrio's own words, "The means justified the end". As a result, the current Senior members of the Board were elected overwhelmingly. And what a disappointment this Board has been.

And what happened to "The Big Guy"? Once Mr. Donfrio was through using him to do his dirty work, he forced him off the Board. The public version was that he resigned from the Board for health reasons.(It was coincidental and we wish him the best). But of course it was not the real reason.

Not content with controlling The Board, Mr. Donofrio also controls the Condo Reps since he installed the existing Chairpersons. Under the guise of "Cooperating with the Board" they rubber stamp all Board Proposals and fight any discussion about difficulties with the Board. And they have the only possible control over the Board since they must approve all expenditures over $50,000.

To highlight their incompetence, their was recently an unnecessary paving contract awarded in the amount of $275,000. Instead of bothering to read the contract, they immediately returned it to Mr. Donofrio(on the spot). The implication was that they didn't understand it anyway so why bother to read it? What a farce.

Another example, when asked to support the petition against the WMUA, the Chairperson responded with "I can't climb the stairs in the buildings so the Condo Reps shouldn't help". And where were they at this years budget meetings? A more camouflaged budget, Covered Bridge has never seen!!!!

This is how the Board began it's rule. A recent article in the Asbury Park Press titled " Seniors relay "horror stories" about bus service" highlights the incompetence of Mr. Leveson and Mr. Donofrio. While it's true the Board approved the new bus service, this was their doing. When Mr. Leveson was asked how we wound up with this mess, his response was "We didn't get what we expected".

If you read the article, it underscores the fact that Mr. Donfrio cares nothing about seniors in Covered Bridge". And he is one of them. He was quoted in the article saying "We are not required to provide bus service". Just because we are not required to provide bus service does that mean we shouldn't provide it?

The irony of the Bus Service mess is unbelievable. At the public hearings in Covered Bridge about the bus service, a past President led the fight against the change. Instead of engaging the past President's help, Mr. Donofrio spread rumors about why he was fighting the changes. Instead of listening to anyone with knowledge of bus services and schedules, Mr. Donofrio forced it through.

Now that they have failed us miserably with a horrible bus service, they have engaged that same past President to fix the mess. They are incapable of fixing the problem, because they have lost all political clout in Monmouth County, due to Sid and Frank's attempted assassination of our beloved Mayor, Michelle Roth.

Is this the kind of leadership we need in Covered Bridge? We don't think so. The Board continues to answer to itself and to no one else. Should we continue to accept their Blue wall of Silence" or their "Circling of the Wagons".?

The only person who has had any success with Frank is Mary Neglia, the retiring President of HOCB. Unfortunately, Mary is being replaced by Irving Reif. He was part of the prior Board of "Bunch of bungling Idiots", Mr. Reif served his purpose on this Board. His assumption of the HOCB Presidency will complete Mr. Donofrio's envelope of control. And it will lay the groundwork for Mr. Donfrio's plan to control Covered Bridge and it's Board after he retires from the Board in May. But then again, it may not.

And who is Mr. Donfrio grooming to take his place on the Board? To be continued........



And that's the TRUTH.............