JACKSON – It was another contentious Township Council meeting with members of the governing body making accusations about communication and transparency during a recent session.
Councilwoman Jennifer Kuhn said she was again putting attention on transparency “or lack thereof” and provided an explanation of what transparency was, “being open and honest with information and actions fully accessible and visible to others. It involves clear communication, accountability and the absence of hidden agendas and secrecy. This is not what is going on here.”
The township Zoning Board of Adjustment has had several resignations recently. “They need to be filled. I requested several times for the Zoning Board applications to start my due diligence. I have requested to the council in the past that we need to start the interview process to fill those positions and was told no one wants to do it.”
Kuhn said she collected all the applications that had been received since January 1 2022 to the present date. She read the names of those applicants and noted some were on other boards, had conflicts of interest or were no longer interested in serving.
She said that she had asked Council President Steven Chisholm “when did the backdoor conversations start? Why isn’t the entire council privileged to these conversations. When did the Zoning Board attorney start telling the council who should be appointed to the Zoning Board? When did sitting Zone Board members start interviewing candidates on behalf of the council?”
“We have only certain council members receiving applications and the Zoning Board attorney making recommendations on applications submitted only 24 hours earlier?” Kuhn said.
She was referencing the application of former Planning Board member Robert Hudak who had previously been appointed to that board by Mayor Michael Reina. The Council approves the selection of Zoning Board members.
She then made the first of three motions to fill Zoning Board vacancies. The first was for Aryeh Skorski. The motions were seconded by Councilman Scott Sargent.
Council President Chisholm asked, “do we know how many openings there are at this point?”
Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin noted that the motion had been seconded so that it would be appropriate to have a roll call of the vote and no further discussion at that point.
Councilman Martin Flemming voted no, Kuhn and Sargent voted yes and Chisholm said, “well in the interest of all the transparency that we are not seeing, hearing or feeling I did not get a copy of said resume or documents so I can’t do my due diligence.”
Chisholm added, “so based on the transparency that you are getting here tonight it will be a no until we have a chance to review that.”
“You were CC’d on my request to get all the applications. You are the president of the council,” Flemming responded.
Chisholm asked Kuhn, “who told you nobody wanted to do it? Who told you that nobody wanted to review these people? That was your statement because it wasn’t me because I’m sure we haven’t had a conversation about this, correct?”
“You were not council president at the time when I asked,” she answered.
“So, I was not asked. Thank you very much. The motion still stands. I still say no,” he responded.
Kuhn made two further motions on applicants for the Zoning Board, Lois Puas and Shira Parnes. The votes were all identical to the first. Chisholm and Flemming said they voted no for the same reasons in that they needed to review the applications.
Council Vice President Nino Borrelli was absent for that meeting. The motions were deadlocked and were not approved.
Even though all members of the governing body are Republican, they come from two different teams who are at odds with each other.
Councilman Sargent apologized to Township Clerk Mary Moss for a line of questioning he made during the prior council meeting pertaining to minutes and votes cast when he was absent from meetings due to a health condition.
“I think I could have done it in a different way and I apologize if I did you any harm. I didn’t mean to do that,” Sargent said.
He thanked Chisholm for calling him to see if he needed anything “for this upcoming council meeting. I didn’t call him back because I didn’t need anything but I thought it was going to be a way for us to start working together but after what just transpired, I don’t know what to do at this point.”
Sargent added, “we need to fill Zoning Board seats and not with just anybody but people we did the research for. Moving forward, hopefully, we’ll be able to do something with the Zoning Board because it is out of control at this point.”
A recent meeting of the Zoning Board had to be adjourned as it failed to assemble a quorum.
Chisholm added, “I’ll leave it where it stands here with the very obvious chicanery that is going on. I will remind everybody that there is a heat wave coming out.”
“We have not seen that this year so please look out for your elderly neighbors, watch out for your pets. Do the responsible thing,” he recommended.
He also noted that an ordinance on second reading that officially reinstated the position of police chaplain was on the agenda. It was approved by unanimous vote later in the meeting.
Mayor Reina thanked those who came out for the meeting. “I look forward to hearing the questions and get home safe, thank you.”
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