The public, and candidates, speak transparency to Middletown committee

By JJ Sullivan III
Correspondent

MIDDLETOWN- Members of the governing body were again called on to address the issue of transparency during the September 15 public session, allegations that have become a frequently opined area of dispute among committee candidates and other members of the township.

Not surprisingly, the issue has made for strong partisan talking points, arguable from either side of the political spectrum.

Irv Beaver, Belford, president of the Middletown Retired Police Organization, questioned the billing of Township Attorney Bernard Reilly.

The retired officer cited numerous legal bills where the township had been charged for up to 22 hours of legal service on behalf of the township attorney's legal firm, apparently proposing that Reilly may have been reaping the benefits of beefed up hourly wages. He also cited a supposed holiday in which legal expenses were incurred while municipal offices were closed.

After a refusal by Beaver to recognize Reilly, a simple explanation was offered.

"I work a lot," said the township attorney, "there is no question about that. There are three lawyers and a staff that I employ, as well."

According to Reilly, the date of the meeting was a perfect example: "I was [at Town Hall] at 10 o clock, spending all of today working on various Middletown matters. As you can see, I am still here [it was 8 pm.] Also today, an attorney from my office was at a department of personnel meeting with the police chief. He left the office at 7:30 am and now got back at 5:30 pm. Obviously there are going to be a lot of hours on today's bill."

The longtime Township Attorney went on to say it was issue of the information presented on the billing materials, and was not an issue of any controversy among members of the committee, who reaffirmed Beaver that nothing suspicious was going on.

"We review all bills and expenditures that come through our offices," the mayor said, seemingly exasperated at Beaver's insinuations. "I've gone over every bill. Every one of them."

Short said lump sums are all the data presented when viewing the bill lists, asking if perhaps the committee could provide some clarity apart from the information of the billing party, the firm of Dowd & Reilly.

"If you have any questions [officials from both the township and Down & Reilly] are more than willing to provide detailed information, but we cant have the entire bill lists printed out for everyone," Scharfenberger said, speaking of the enormity in such an undertaking, which would result in the unnecessary waste of resources to alleviate the suspicions of a specific few.

Democratic committee candidate Patricia Walsh next addressed the committee, challenging them to offer more transparency in government, a cornerstone of her election efforts.

She presented a copy of a newly adopted Sunshine ordinance from Hillside, a northern New Jersey municipality, and "challenged" the committee to "step up to the plate" and approve similar allowances for public access.

"I want you to make government more transparent and accessible to its citizens," she said. "Transparency is the access to resolutions, ordinances and meeting minutes in a timely fashion."

Walsh said the public deserved the hard copies of ordinances being put to vote, as well as the ability the address the council before an ordinances adoption; privileges allowed under the Hillside ordinance she referred to.

"The public has been denied access to government. On January 4, this is the ordinance I am going to introduce when I am sitting up on that dais," the Board of Education member said, expressing an apparent confidence that she would defeat either Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill or her running mate, GOP committee candidate Anthony Fiore, in the upcoming municipal elections in November.

Committeeman Thomas Wilkens took exception to the inference by Walsh that the committee members, by disallowing or preventing certain types of public access, sought only to serve themselves.

"I am involved in township government not for the service of myself but for the service of my community," he said. "I am sorry if my demeanor does not reflect [my intentions to serve] but I take exception to that comment."

After Walsh, Cindy Cody Bjelka, a member of the audience, spoke out against what she regarded as the hypocrisy in the BOE members' statements to the committee.

"Pat Walsh is the last person to talk about transparency," she said, pointing to Walsh's long-time membership on the nine-seat collective that heads the Middletown school district. "If she gets in this government, forget about it."

She claimed citizens must go through a superfluous, time consuming process, including sometimes having to file suit in separate courts, to get OPRA [Open Public Records Act] requests fulfilled. She asserted that requests to the BOE have been either denied or devoid of information on an alarmingly consistent basis, and inferred that Walsh was at least partly responsible.

During her comments regarding the BOE and Walsh, Democratic committee candidate Jim Grenafege called for a point of order under Roberts' Rule, interrupting Bjelka mid-sentence.
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"I'm calling for a point of order until Roberts' Rules," he said repeatedly until recognized.

The mayor denied Grenafege's demand and told the candidate he would have his opportunity to speak after allowing the present speaker to finish in a civil manner.

"Anyway," continued Bjelka in her denunciations of Walsh, "she has denied over and over and over again the citizens of Middletown access to the records that we have requested from the BOE. She has wasted more money in this town than anybody you can imagine, and she continues to do so."

Grenafege would mentioned the falsehoods contained in the most recent statement by the mayor appearing in the community newsletter, Middletown Matters. He said the mayor's definition and discussion regarding transparency in government failed to touch upon the basic principles of the notion.

The next workshop session will allow concerned members of the community another opportunity to address the governing body, albeit in a civil fashion.