Democrats Oppose Appointments at Township Reorganization Meeting

Democratic committee members voiced their opposition to the appointments of township attorney and labor counsel at Sunday’s reorganization meeting.

Helen DelaCruz and Sean Sharkey both voted against the reappointment of George R. Gilmore as township attorney and the firm of Citta, Holzapfel & Zabarsky as labor counsel.

“Gilmore is the head of our opposition,” Sharkey said. “We were elected for change, and we would still like to see some change in positions.”

Gilmore is chairman of the Republican Party of Ocean County and has served as the Lacey Township attorney since the mid-1980s.

“I think it’s a conflict of interest,” DelaCruz said.

But Mayor Mark Dykoff said Gilmore and Monahan, P.A. has been a “fantastic firm” for Lacey Township.

“We work well with them,” he said. “That’s what you have to look at; the value that they bring to the township and how they work with every day things we deal with.”

The firm also has good relationships at the county and state levels, Dykoff said.

Conflicts of interests are determined just as they are for campaign donations, he said. DelaCruz could file a grievance.

As for the labor counsel, Sharkey and DelaCruz were disappointed with the outcome of the issue with employee furloughs under James Holzapfel.

“Furloughs weren’t a good idea,” Sharkey said. “Now we have to payback the employees.”

In December, the township had to to reimburse employees for furlough days.

Township employees, with the exception of the police department, were served 22 furlough days from July 16, 2010, until the end of the year. Employees took a 20 percent cut in their salaries by not working on Fridays, which saved the township $450,000.

Teamsters Union Local 97 and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1088 . While the Teamsters won through arbitration, the CWA reached a settlement with the township, resulting in the payback.

The decision put the township more than $200K in the hole, DelaCruz said.

“I’m not blaming anyone,” she said. “That’s just how it was handled.”

Although Sharkey would not comment on how the issue was handled, he said every option should be considered in the future.

“We have explained before that we were advised that the furloughs were a legal option for us,” Dykoff said. “We were well within our right of going ahead.”

Committeeman Gary Quinn explained in October that the furlough plan complied with the Civil Service Commission’s guidelines and was submitted and approved by the state.

“It was nothing that the labor counsel did,” Dykoff said. “Unfortunately [the courts] didn’t agree…You live and you learn and in the future we’ll know that before we go ahead with something like this we’ll dot all our i’s and cross all our t’s.”

The township attorney and labor counsel were appointed by a vote of 3-2. “I want fellow Democrats to know I am still fighting for change,” Sharkey said.

Aside from township auditor and bond counsel, professional appointments remain the same for 2012.

William E. Antonides will be the new township auditor based on a recommendation from Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning and the company’s qualifications, Dykoff said.

Fanning worked with the auditor in the past and rates were comparable to the previous auditor, he said.

“We’re working towards making changes in the future and thinking about changes in Lacey Township,” Dykoff said. Recommendations from management have to be considered.

John Q. Bennett of Dilworth Paxson, LLP will serve as the bond counsel for Lacey Township. The company has a good reputation in the state and presented a better proposal than the previous bond counsel, Dykoff said.

“We’re about making changes when it’s necessary for the township,” he said.

Township committees’ change on a yearly basis due to expired terms and resignations, Administrator Veronica Laureigh said. Residents submit citizen leadership resumes in which the township reviews and makes decisions based on qualifications.

Below is a list of appointments made at the reorganization meeting. Continue to follow Lacey Patch for more on the meeting.

Position

Appointee

Attorney

George R. Gilmore

Prosecutors

Colleen M. Dolcy, Christian Schlegel and James Paguiligan

Auditor

William E. Antonides and Company

Public Defender

Christopher Reid, Esquire

Engineer

James F. Stanton, P.E., P.P. of O'Donnell, Stanton and Associates

Conflict Public Defender

Brian E. Rumpf, Esquire

Labor Counsel

James Holzapfel

Bond Counsel

John O. Bennett

Director of Community Development

John Curtin

Recreation Director

James Wioland

Municipal Alliance Coordinator

Heather Scanlon

Class II Member to the Planning Board

John Curtin

Class III Member to the Planning Board

Gary Quinn

Class IV Members to the Planning Board

Daniel Cortese and Charles Wood

Class IV Member to the Planning Board to fill the unexpired term of William Boehm

Josephine Witleigh

Alternates to Planning Board

Christopher Reid as Alternate Number One and Jerry Conaty as Alternate Number Two

Regular Members to the Zoning Board

Laurence Gudgeon and Shep Moore

Zoning Board to fill the unexpired term of Lucille Masciale

Barbara Vena

Alternates to Zoning Board

Paul Dinicola as Alternate Number One and Edward Scanlon as Alternate Number Two

Regular Members to the Board of Health

Debra Slota and Otto Poligardi

Alternate Number I on the Board of Health

Gladys Anderson

Regular Members of the Environmental Commission

Robert Bea, Ronald Leard and Robert Bair

Alternate Number I to the Environmental Commission

Terrance Stuart

Regular Member of the Lacey Municipal Utilities Authority

Nicholas Juliano

Alternate Number I to the LMUA

Jack Nosti