Possible Conflicts of Interest for Councilmen Picking Attorney, Mayor Claims

After a new president and vice president were chosen for Parsippany-Troy Hills' new council, they read off and unanimously approved standard resolutions at Tuesday's reorganization meeting.

However, as the new Parsippany-Troy Hills Council was about to read and vote on a resolution to confirmed the appointment of John Inglesino as the township attorney, Mayor Jamie Barberio brought up a letter that showed Council President Paul Carifi and new Councilman Louis Valori had conflicts of interest in regards to Inglesino. 

Council members said that this was the first time they had heard of this letter and its contents. 

Barberio said that going forward, “a large portion of township litigation is involved in one matter. So I notified the conflict attorney, Michael B. Lavery, Esq. of the Firm of Courter, Kobert & Cohen, PC, in regards to council president Paul Carifi and Councilman Louis Valori if they have conflicts on voting on issues pertaining to our township attorney.”

“I have a letter here from the conflict attorney stating such that there are conflicts … in voting for or against the township attorney.”

Carifi said he had not yet heard of this.

“This is news to me,” he said, asking Barberio to read the letter to the public.

“I’m going to give this (to the township clerk). I’m not going to read it into the record,” Barberio said, adding that the councilmen will “have the opportunity to read it.”

However, before he handed the letter over to township clerk, Yancy Wazirmas, he decided to read off the conclusion of the letter (also in the above video):

“Councilman Carifi and Councilman Valori have significant conflicts of interest with … township attorney Inglesino and therefore should not participate in matters regarding Inglesino, including any vote, including any vote related to his potential reappointment to township counsel. Based upon the events of the past year, this process would be tainted and would only bring harm to the reputation of the township as well as councilman Carifi and Councilman Valori individually,” said Barberio.

Carifi said that since there is a possibility of a conflict of interest and since the council has not had a chance to read the letter, the resolution to appoint Inglesino to township attorney was tabled unanimously to next week’s meeting.

Earlier this week, Little Falls township council turned down the mayor's appointment of Inglesino because Inglesino's cost would be 'going through the roof' at $2,000 per council meeting, with additional hours billed at $150 per hour, according to NorthJersey.com

Baldwin Manor vs. Parsippany saved “the township approximately $3 million in liability … saved the township workers their jobs because if we would have lost that case, we would have had a few million dollars in liability and second we would have had to lay off all sanitation (employees) because we would not have been able to handle it.

Forge Pond vs. Parsippany In this trio of litigation, the firm effectively managed complex land use development, water, sewer and municipal services while aggressively negotiating a comprehensive severance package with the plaintiff.

“In their first three years of services, (Inglesino’s) firm saved the township over $200,000,” said Barberio.