Your Turn
Shared services added to festival's success
Jerry Ust
Guest Column

I would first like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to all our sponsors, borough employees and volunteers who participated in this year's Sayreville Independence Day event, especially the Rosedale Band for performing at the skate park, Borough Council President Tom Pollando, council members Kathy Makowski, Dan Buchanan, Dennis Grobelny and Stanley Drawl, Business Administrator Jeff Bertrand, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Officer Chip Blazes and resident Chip Eicher for working the dunk tank and pie-throwing events and raising money for the Sayreville Veterans of Foreign Wars Returning Vets Fund. All your help made those events a great success. The prized Yankee tickets for the hot-dog-eating contest were supplied by Tom Pollando and were greatly appreciated by the winners.

This year's incredible entertainment would not have been possible without the outstanding efforts of AEG Starland Ballroom. The Recreation Department made an agreement with Starland Ballroom to supply top-quality entertainment bands, Gary U.S. Bonds, Slippery When Wet: A Bon Jovi Tribute Band and the Matt O'Ree Band, from 3-9:15 p.m., and all sound equipment required for the event, free of charge, in exchange for allowing Starland to sell beer, soda and water, coupled with the use of a borough-owned piece of equipment, the show mobile stage, for two events this summer. The only responsibility of the borough was to deliver and pick up the stage, which the borough uses only four to five times per year at a total cost of $322 per event.

The agreement was that Starland Ballroom would supply $12,840 minus $900 (profit from beer soda and water) plus a $2-million insurance policy and security protection while the stage was in its possession, for a total of $11,940 in services for the people of Sayreville to enjoy. The show mobile stage cost the taxpayers of Sayreville $85,000 to purchase an under-utilized, idle piece of equipment, but would only have cost $644 to supply for the two events.

I contacted Wenger Inc., the manufacturer of the stage, to find out rental charges for the stage and was informed that the company does not rent stages, but the majority of towns and counties who purchase the stage rent it to recoup its cost. A stage similar to ours is owned by Middlesex County Parks and Recreation and can be rented by any Middlesex County organization for $400 per day. Fees include delivery, set up and pick up as long as the stage is used in Middlesex County. Using the county figures of $400 per day, Starland's obligation to the borough would have been approximately $1,600 for the two events.

Again, thank you, AEG Starland Ballroom, for working with the Sayreville Recreation Department and supplying all the entertainment and sound equipment for our Independence Day celebration - you are truly the definition of a good neighbor.

Starland Ballroom has quietly supported Sayreville organizations by sponsoring the Sayreville Leprechauns football team, donating $3,500 to the Sayreville Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA) picnic, donating $500 to the Hit the Bricks 5-mile race to benefit Sayreville Brain Injured Children and providing its building at no charge for DARE's Domestic Violence Night and Sayreville War Memorial High School's Espresso Café Talent Show.

Thank you for all your support. I look forward to working with you for many years to come. The Sayreville Recreation Department, with the support of the governing body, is looking forward to presenting another spectacular event in 2008 for the residents of Sayreville to enjoy.

Jerry Ust is director of recreation for the borough of Sayreville