More Than $30K Spent in FOD-Related Legal Fees

The so-called Fields of Dreams high school turf field proposal is still in the discussion phase, but the controversial idea ostensibly intended to save money is already taking from the public till.

Township Attorney John Inglesino so far has been paid $31,500 by the township for his legal services relating to the Open Space Trust Fund Ordinance, bonding for artificial turf fields proposed for the high schools and "other turf-field related expenses" through the end of February 2012, according to Parsippany-Troy Hills Business Administrator Jasmine Lim.

As the town's lawyer, Inglesino is paid a retainer of $21,500 for attending council meetings and offering legal advice, Lim said. He also receives $150 per hour "for legal services" and $220 per hour if said services involve matters requiring public finance expertise.

The payments include $6,500 amassed during 2011, when Inglesino participated in in-person and e-mail discussions that took place at various times between Recreation Advisory Committee members Frank Neglia of the Par-Troy West Little League (also Board of Education vice president), Michael Pietrowicz of Little Vikings Football, Recreation Superintendent Joe Plescia, Parks and Forestry Superintendent James Walsh and Mayor James Barberio.

These conversations centered around the possibility of using open space funds to pay for athletic improvements at  and  high schools. Proposed refurbishments include replacing the schools' football fields with artificial turf surfaces, installing modern lighting and refurbishing the track ovals and fences.

The remaining $25,000 was paid out for January and February of this year, Lim said. During this time, Inglesino spent time on FOD matters including crafting a .

The town's lawyer has said that the proposed cost of the turf field project if approved, conservatively estimated, would be about $4.5 million.

Inglesino, a partner at Inglesino, Pearlman, Wyciskala and Taylor, LLC, has , which preceded the proposal's December 2011 public unveiling at a BOE meeting.

Members of Parsippany Unite, a group made of residents with objections to the turf field plan, took aim at the attorney for allegedly helping to shape the Fields of Dreams plan. Another point of contention for the group is that the town's lawyer allegedly helped write passages of text that appear on the supposedly private FOD website, which they assert was crafted largely by Michael Pietrowicz with Inglesino's assistance.

"I feel as if a private group (FOD Committee) has benefitted by leveraging the township representation," said member Kristen Ritter. "We at P.U. aren’t so fortunate and need to raise our own funds, so I would really hope Inglesino didn’t provide website copy, guidance, etc., to a private committee."

But is the Fields of Dreams Committee private?

Inglesino defended his work, noting that his participation was part of his role to "represent the town," as he stated at the March 14 Town Council meeting. As township attorney, he said his job is to provide legal advice and representation to the governing body, which is made up of the mayor, the council and town officials. 

“I do not represent Mr. Pietrowicz, and we had never met before until this particular issue came up,” Inglesino said that night. “I have never provided any content for the Field of Dreams website and I have not been paid by Field of Dreams. I have nothing to do with Field of Dreams.

“I wasn’t asked to come to a preconceived conclusion. I was asked [by the township] to look at the issue and analyze it in a legal, scholarly way,” he said.

Pietrowicz is a township appointee to the Recreation Advisory Committee. He also is listed as a member of the municipality's Fields of  Dreams Exploratory Committee Finance Subcommittee and was made its chairperson on April 11, 2011. 

However the Fields of Dreams effort, in which his leadership role can be traced through publicly available records back to December 2010, is backed by private citizens. Its website, whose development was discussed in e-mails between subcommittee members, makes no mention of any connection to Parsippany government or whether it is a production of the township's FOD Exploratory Committee Finance Subcommittee .

In an e-mail exchange between he, recreation committee members and Inglesino on Nov. 28, 2011, Pietrowicz stated, "Thanks for your feedback on the website. Changes to the content and layout will  be made tonight. Once we have John's sections we will build them into the website and we should be ready."

Later in the email, Pietrowicz wrote about the website's forthcoming launch and provided the committee members with its log-in and password information.

He continued:

Please review this information in detail and provide me with any feedback by end of  business tomorrow.  Our web designer is leaving for  vacation on Thursday and I want  to give her all the additional information tomorrow night so she can update and finalize the site before she leaves. John Inglesino is drafting the language that still needs to be inserted for such things as 

• Relationship between the town and the BoE 

• The use of  Open Space Tax funds

• How the open space funds are restricted for designated uses 

• How the OSTF can be recaptured by the State if  they are not  used 

• And other  supporting material

John, should we attach your memorandum and the BoE attorney memorandum to the website? The website allows people to sign a petition of support so we need to rally our forces the next few weeks.

On Dec. 12, the day after the proposal's debut before the school board, another email was sent by Pietrowicz to Business Administrator Lim. In the missive he wrote, "I don' t want me or anyone else to be publicly identified as owning/operating the website and it shouldn't be attached to the mayor's office."

A whois search by resident Jonathan Nelson (who is not in Parsippany Unite) showed that neither Pietrowicz nor the township own the FOD website.The owner, according to Nelson's search, was Thomas Bluj, a private citizen and youth sports booster who has spoken publicly in favor of the turf project and appears to hold no appointed or elected position in town government.

FOD supporters, many of whom have heard some of this information presented by the opposition at public municipal meetings, say the documents available on Parsippany Unite's website and questions over Inglesino's participation in the FOD website are being used to tarnish Pietrowicz's character unfairly.

Kristen Ritter, whom whois reveals is the legal owner of ParsippanyUnite.com,  disagreed.

"At the end of the day what Mike Pietrowicz is doing is commendable," she said in a written statement. "He's a great guy who is spearheading something that has great potential for the town. He’s trying to drive change, and he’s pushing for something that would benefit athletes of Parsippany. None of that is in question."

Ritter said Pietrowicz isn't the issue, it's John Inglesino and "the process."

"Before our involvement, Inglesino several times on record said that he is the township attorney and he represents the town," she said. "He had also been asked about the FOD committee and he’s said he didn’t know of a committee and he hasn’t written website copy for them. He states over and over that he works for the mayor and the council. ... Inglesino should have only been emailing with the mayor and council and not directly with private citizens.

"It’s the appearance of impropriety," Ritter continued. "If there’s a question in our minds about whether something is being done correctly, it’s our right to look into it."