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The Hillside Township Council last night elected 3rd Ward Councilman John Kulish as its president and 1st Ward Councilman Edward Brewer as vice president.
KULISH |
Councilman-at-large Leonard Gilbert did not seek another term as council president, just as he had promised last week.
Neither Kulish — a registered Republican allied with the Democratic machine — nor Brewer are up for election next year. Could this be a plan to keep the at-large candidates, whose terms expire next spring, under low profile to avoid taking the blame for this year’s (and last’s) property tax increase?
As expected, the two independent council members, the 2nd Ward’s Shelley-Ann Bates and the 4th Ward’s Gerald “Pateesh” Freedman, were not appointed to any council committees.
It has long been a show of force by the majority party on the council and Board of Education to excluded opposition members from committees, although the practice seems a bit odd. First of all, being on a committee isn’t fun. It means extra work and extra meetings. Secondly, all final decisions are made by the full council or school board, not by a committee. And finally, not being on any committee sure makes it a lot easier to sit back and be the critic.
In any event, President Kulish told Freedman and Bates not to be concerned about the lack of assignments, promising them they’d be kept busy “up to their necks” in the upcoming year.
In other news:
Richard Bauch, of Democratic moneybag firm Schenck, Price, Smith & King, and Kathy Hatfield are in as Personnel Attorneys
Robert Renaud was reappointed as Special Tax Appeal Attorney
Steve Rogut is the Bond Attorney
Samuel Manigault is the Public Defender
Francis McIntyre is in a Special Township Attorney for the Board of Health
Harbor Consultants are still the Township Engineers
Ed Kologi and Michael Simitz are Special Township Attorneys
Daniel McCarthy is Special Township Attorney
Robert Varady, a resident of King Street, is the ABC attorney
Diane Rowe was reappointed as Deputy Township Clerk
Supee, Clooney and Co. are the auditors again
Anthony L. Acampora, M.D., who Kulish noted was his doctor, was appointed to complete all pre-employment physicals
Hugh Keffer is the night prosecutor and Lara DiFabrizio is the day prosecutor
Adam Samiec was brought on again as an engineering consultant.
Appointments to boards included the usual suspects:
Local Assistance Board: Rev. Nancy Ruckert and Ann Kaufman
Board of Health: Alan Zimmerman, Rosemary McClave, Debbie Stroud
Zoning Board of Adjustment: Joe Miskiewicz, Nagy Sileem, Chales Watts
Swimming Pool Commission: Paula Reico
Community Recreation Advisory Council: Frederick Bloomfield
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The Hillside Township Council beat the mayor to the punch, filing a lawsuit against her Friday a few weeks after she threatened to take the legislative body to court.
The suit was revealed Tuesday by the Star-Ledger. The council claims Mayor Karen McCoy-Oliver has unlawfully kept legal files of former Township Attorney Dwayne Warren, who is her cousin.
The firm Kologi & Simitz – one of the council’s many attorneys — is handling this case. The firm was hired expressly for the purpose of going after the mayor, The Hillsider has learned.
The attorney told the Ledger it would be a conflict for current Township Attorney Christine Burgess to handle this case, although he doesn’t explain why. Could it be because Burgess is at the center of the mayor and council’s feud over appointing attorneys?
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With so many lawyers on the township payroll — and one more seeking to join it — it was only a matter of time before Hillside’s township government tried suing itself.
Mayor Karen McCoy-Oliver this week threatened to take the Township Council to court to settle the question of who has the authority to appoint the township attorney: she or the council.
Under Hillside’s mayor-council form of government, the mayor makes appointments subject to council approval and oversight — a point the the council stresses.
But the mayor, who attended this week’s council meeting for the first time in about 18 months, insists it’s up to her, and offered Marc Garfinkle as candidate for Township Attorney.
The township already retains eight other lawyers. That’s EIGHT.
One — Acting Township Attorney Christine Burgess, whom the mayor appointed in May but urged to resign in June after more bitter disagreements with the council. The council criticized Burgess after she was appointed, but sang her praises after she tried to resign. The council has kept her on to finish work she supposedly started.
Two — “Legislative research officer” Craig Dowd, who the council appointed in 2006 to snub then Township Attorney Dwayne Warren, an ally and cousin of the mayor. Dowd is probably who the council wants as attorney. Dowd makes $45,000 per year in this role.
Three — Daniel McCarthy, of Rogut, McCarthy LLC, serves as the attorney specializing in economic development and planning. He earns $125 an hour, not to exceed $17,500 for the year. Mr. McCarthy also serves as bond attorney at $20,000 per year.
Four — Bruce Bergen, of Krevsky, Silber, Brown & Bergen, was appointed special township attorney in July for a total of $15,000.
Five — Francis McIntyre, of McIntyre & Kirshenbaum, is special township attorney for the Board of Health at $8,500 per year.
Six — King Street resident Robert Varady, of LaCorte Bundy Varady & Kinsella, is the ABC attorney at $15,000 per year.
Seven — Richard Bauch, of Schenk, Price, Smith & King, is the contract negotiations attorney for a total of $65,000 per year.
Eight — Michael Simitz, of Kologi & Simitz, was appointed this month on an “as needed basis,” just in case a “conflict” prevents the township attorney (whoever that is) from doing his or her or their job. He will get $125 an hour, not to exceed $17,500 for the year.
It should be noted that Hillside’s municipal tax went up 6 percent this year.
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