Mayor Dennis Elwell and the council were meeting in a caucus session open to the public an hour and a half before the 7 p.m. town council meeting. While the town council meeting may have been standard fare, the council was serving up the spicy political jousting at the caucus that residents have come to expect.
First course: continuing questions over convention
A caucus, which is a more informal gathering that usually takes place before local municipal council meetings, provides an opportunity for councilmen to air out their differences on issues before formal council votes are taken.
In this way, municipal councils try to remove some bones of contention and smooth the way for the passage of ordinances at official meetings.
Councilmen sometimes vote during caucus sessions, but only the votes taken during official council meetings are final and binding. Unless certain issues such as municipal employee salaries are discussed, caucus meetings are open to the general public.
Debate at the caucus began in earnest when 2nd Ward Councilman Michael Gonnelli decided to bring up a motion that was tabled at the Feb. 27 council meeting.
The question Gonnelli raised was in regard to conventions and conferences. In recent weeks, there has been an ongoing dispute concerning the town paying for 17 employees to attend the annual League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City in mid-November. Only 11 wound up attending.
At the Feb. 27 council meeting, Gonnelli proposed a motion that stated that no municipal employee could attend any conference or convention without the approval of the mayor and full council prior to attendance.
Mayor Dennis Elwell and his political allies on the council, John Reilly, Richard Kane, and John Shinnick, voted to table the motion, declaring that they needed more time to study the matter before they voted.
Gonnelli and his Take Back Secaucus council allies, John Bueckner and Gary Jeffas, voted against tabling the motion.
The 4-3 vote, frequently tallied since the new council was sworn into office in January, reflected the almost even division of the council between the rival Elwell and Gonnelli camps.
"I think that this is something that we need to look into," Gonnelli said. "I'm asking for attendance to any major overnight conferences to be approved. We should know where town employees are going and what they are spending. The second thing I'm asking for is all 'hand checks' to be included in the town bill list so we can see them."
Second course: the 'hand check' issue
A hand check is a common New Jersey municipal practice used to register payment without immediate official receipts. The practice, which acts as a sort of pre-paid check, is often used because creating official receipts can be time consuming and sometimes impedes the swift movement of town government.
Gary Jeffas raised the issue of hand checks, stating that most seemed to relate to seminars and conferences. Town administrator Anthony Iacono objected.
"There's a wide range of reasons why Peggy has to write out hand checks that has nothing to do with conferences," he said, referring to Peggy Barkala, the town's chief financial officer. "The conference issue is a separate issue. I'm not here to defend Peggy, I'm just telling you what she has done and that she's probably done it for 10 years."
Gonnelli seemed confused by this practice.
"Shouldn't we know about that?" he asked. "We're talking about thousands of dollars. We should be voting on this. If we're voting on it, then we are acknowledging that we know about it."
After some additional exchanges between Gonnelli and Iacono, Elwell interjected and addressed Gonnelli.
"We're talking about accountability here," he said. "I am telling you that Peggy would never allow anything to be done wrong here. She is not going to allow anything to be done illegally. Now, what you're pointing to is that something illegal is going on."
After Gonnelli maintained that he was not trying to make any accusations of illegal financial practices, Kane directly pointed a way towards achieving some clarity on the council concerning hand-checks.
"We're making accusations here," he said. "Let's at least give Peggy a chance to explain this. I want her to explain to me how she handles her business before I make a decision."
With that, the council passed two non-binding motions at the end of the caucus. The council unanimously agreed that any town employee participation in an overnight conference needs the full council's approval. The council also voted as one to request Barkala's presence to discuss hand checks. Mark J. Bonamo can be reached at mbonamo@hudsonreporter.com.
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