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Community Corner

PARSIPPANY'S TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

Parsippany residents should be aware of a resolution, R2013-209- Reimbursement of Legal Fees - which was adopted by the Township Council on Oct. 8, 2013.

The night this resolution was passed I questioned council members about whether it had anything to do with Council President Brian Stanton or Mayor Jamie Barberio.

The reason for the question was that I knew Council President Stanton and Mayor Barberio had personally incurred attorney fee's to defend themselves as a direct result of a meeting held on Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at 8 pm at town hall that ultimately was investigated by the Somerset County Prosecutor.

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Allegations of a bribery attempt were made and though the Prosecutor chose not to file charges there was no definitive decision as to whether wrong doing had taken place.

Awareness of that situation is what prompted me to question the council about the connection between the resolution and the two elected officials named in the investigation.

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Since none of the council members responded to my question, I filed an OPRA request to get some answers.

The following is the information I received:

Brain Stanton - check dated 10/17/13 issued to Brain in the amount of $5,662.50 - itemized attorney bill was attached. It was brought before the town council for a vote and passed.

Mayor J. Barberio - check dated 12/10/13 issued to Clifford J. Weininger in the amount of $5,000.00 - bill showed only "minimum attorney fee for representation" billed $5,000.00.

Basedon what I know so far, I asked the council members who voted on this resolution whether they read it carefully and whether they considered its financial consequences for the taxpayers of Parsippany or if it was "one of those things" pushed through based on the township attorney John Inglesino's advice?

Regardless of how or why it passed I am asking the township council to rescind this resolution immediately.

Things to consider:

* The wording of this resolution allows "former"elected or appointed officials to be covered! Are you (town council) not opening up a can of worms here?

* Mr. Inglesino makes a point of wording this resolution in a way that opens the door wide in terms of situations where legal expenses can be reimbursed. In this case the Somerset County Prosecutor said he found the case to be "not viable" but did not come out and exonerate Stanton, Barberio or Inglesino for that matter. Therefore, Mr. Inglesino worded the resolution so as to allow reimbursement when an "authority's decision to discontinue prosecution" is in place.

* I question whether any council members investigated other area towns to find out if they have a similar resolution in place or feel the necessity to have such a resolution.

* This resolution was adopted in October, so why are we reimbursing Councilmen Stanton and Mayor Barberio for legal bills that were incurred before the resolution was approved? Since their legal problems occurred prior to the date resolution was passed I would like an explanation of how this expenditure of taxpayer money was justified.

* Did the town council vote to have Mayor Barberio's attorney reimbursed? If not, should they have voted on that? How are council members, who are the financial arm of the municipal government, not being included in on these important decisions? A total of over $10,000.00 of the taxpayers' money was used. As a taxpayer I would like an explanation.

Some of the issues that are unclear are:

1) Was Councilmen Stanton acting in his official capacity on the night of January 13th 2013? If he was then who in the township authorized it? Mayor Barberio originally denied there was a meeting. Councilmen Stanton subsequently confirmed the meeting took place at the town council meeting of 3/12/13.

2) If this was an official meeting shouldn't there be a record of what took place? Were minutes taken? Where are they?

3) The township attorney said he "forgot" to bill the township for this "official meeting" which he attended. Did he ever issue that bill? If so, how much did he charge the township?

4) Reportedly Council President Stanton requested resumes from Councilmen Carifi and Mr. Valori. I would like to know who authorized him to make that request and for exactly what purpose the request was made.

Again I ask the township council to consider rescinding this resolution until it is reviewed and completely understood or possibly, if the town council truly feels a need for it, revised to be applied to future situations not retroactively covering past problems.

There are too many unanswered questions which relate to this resolution and until those questions are answered and the public has a clear understanding of what has transpired it is my opinion that it would be in the taxpayers best interest not to leave yourselves open. Is this resolution a necessity or done only because Mayor Barberio and Councilmen Stanton wanted to be reimbursed for their legal woes? Can we possibly recoup the taxpayer's money?

This all came about because of a clandestine Sunday night meeting that at first Mayor Barberio denied happened. Even after it was confirmed that the meeting took place, the residents were never told why Mr. Valori was asked to be at the meeting. If it was official business why was Mr. Valori there since at the time he was not a member of the town council? Who requested Mr. Valori's presence and why?

Finally, the real question here in Parsippany is for Mayor Barberio and it is this: WHERE IS THE TRANSPARENCY??????

Pat Petaccia

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