Crematorium Has Oceanport Officials Hot

Oceanport officials are burning over the prospects of the Woodbine Cemetery installing a crematorium with a smoke stack in a residential neighborhood of the borough.

In a statement released by Councilman Joe Irace yesterday and posted on the Oceanport website , the borough complains that the only public notification that Woodbine Cemetery was seeking to build a crematorium was in a public notice published in the Home News, an Asbury Park Press affiliated publication that is distributed in Middlesex and Somerset counties.

The borough became aware of the situation via a letter from the Department of Environmental Protection informing them that Woodbine was seeking an Air Pollution Control Permit.

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Officials honor Shore Regional student as an ‘Unsung Hero’

Officials honor Shore Regional student as an ‘Unsung Hero’ (via NJ.com)

WEST LONG BRANCH – One of the most valuable members of the Shore Regional High School football team last season never caught a pass, gained a yard, completed a tackle or scored a point for the Blue Devils. James Danskin, a 16-year-old sophomore, was…

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Oceanport Is Advertising For A Borough Administrator

It seems that Monmouth GOP Chairman John Bennett will not be both the Borough Administrator and Borough Attorney in Oceanport after all.

The borough is advertising the borough administrator position on its website and on the League of Municipalities site.  Applications were due last week, but the ads are still running.

Click to read ad

The Borough Attorney, Bennett became the Acting Administrator in early November after the previous Acting Administrator, Phil Huhn, stepped down. Kimberly Jungfer resigned as Borough Administrator and Clerk to take the same job in neighboring Little Silver in June.

Bennett pitched the idea of being both the Borough Attorney and Administrator to Mayor Michael J. Mahon and the Council as a cost saving measure.

“It would be a win-win for everybody,” Bennett said, noting that the borough would save money in legal fees if he held both posts. He said he is not seeking pension credits or health benefits in the proposed position.

But questions about the inherent conflicts put the kibosh on the arrangement, even on a temporary basis.  Scott Arnette  was hired as Acting Borough Attorney for the month of December and Bennett continues as Acting Administrator for the remainder of 2013.

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Bennett: Supreme Court Decision Does Not Apply To His Oceanport Job

Ethics Expert Disagrees

John Bennett. Photo credit: Rhoda Chodosh

Monmouth County Republican Chairman John O. Bennett said that a State Supreme Court Opinion written in 2000 by Justice Daniel J. O’Hern that states that the positions of Borough Attorney and Borough Administrator may not be held by the same person does not apply to his job in Oceanport.

In re ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, DOCKET NO. 18-98, the Court ruled 5-2, to affirm an ACPE opinion that Gregory C. Hart could not serve the Bergen County Borough of Old Tappan as both attorney and administrator.

We respect the wishes of the Borough to engage for its day to day management an attorney in whom it has reposed great trust and confidence. Likewise, we respect the attorney who is certain that his integrity would assure an unfettered exercise of judgment in either capacity. Yet we must fashion a rule that will apply equally as well in more demanding circumstances, as in a fast-growing suburban community. It asks too much for an individual to be able to give objective advice to the municipality without being materially limited by the “lawyer’s own interest” as the subject of the inquiry.

For these reasons, we hold that one attorney may not hold both the position of municipal attorney and clerk-administrator for the same municipality. As modified, the advisory opinion of the ACPE is affirmed.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Bennett said he became aware of the Opinion after his appointment as Acting Administrator in Oceanport earlier this month, but that he did not believe it would prevent him from holding both positions on a permanent basis.

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Oceanport Councilman Resigns To Take County Job

William Johnson, right and Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace. Photo credit: Rhoda Chodosh

William Johnson resigned his seat on the Oceanport Borough Council on November 1, due to his recent employment by Monmouth County.  Johnson’s resignation was first reported by LittleSilver-Oceanport Patch.

Johnson is the Monmouth County Recycling Coordinator, working out of the County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls.  Prior to his employment by the county, Johnson was a loan officer at Colonial American Bank.

Municipal elected officials from Monmouth County towns are banned from employment with the county due to a Resolution proposed by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, then a Freeholder, in 2005.  The resolution was passed unanimously by the all Republican Freeholder Board in April of 2005 in the wake of the Operation Bid Rig raid that February wherein numerous county employees and municipal elected officials were arrested on corruption charges.

Employees who held elective office at the time the resolution was passed were grandfathered.  County Administrator Teri O’Connor said this morning “there might be a few” employees still grandfathered and holding elected office, but she wasn’t aware of any.

Freeholder Director Tom Arnone said that Johnson applied for the job through a posting on the County’s website, and that the appointment was not a matter of political patronage.

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John Bennett Takes Oceanport Job

photo credit: Rhoda Chodosh

Monmouth County Republican Chairman was appointed Acting Administrator of the Borough of Oceanport last week, replacing Phil Huhn, a former Neptune Township administrator, who had been holding the post since June when Kimberly Jungfer resigned as Borough Administrator and Clerk to take the same job in neighboring Little Silver.

Mayor Michael J. Mahon confirmed Bennett’s temporary appointment and declined to comment further.

Bennett, who also serves as the borough’s attorney, said he was in conversations with the governing body to become a full time employee as a attorney and administrator in January.

“It would be a win-win for everybody,” Bennett said, noting that the borough would save money in legal fees if he held both posts. He said he is not seeking pension credits or health benefits in the proposed position.

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Joe Irace’s December Comments On COAH

Transcript from statement read at the Dec. 5, 2012 Oceanport Borough Council meeting by Councilman Joseph Irace:

Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace

Tonight we are being “asked” under court order, to approve an affordable housing plan for the Borough of Oceanport for COAH Round 2.  The entire debate on Affordable Housing is one that I have trouble understanding intellectually, socially and fiscally.  While we all embrace the idea of lower priced homes, where newly married couples and our aging population can remain in our town for now and years to come, I have a hard time accepting the fact that the Courts, and not our legislature, have the ability to mandate how many homes and the type of homes that a municipality must provide.  This is especially troublesome to me because the rest of the town bears the tax burden of this unfunded judicial mandate.

This COAH legislation and the resulting judicial decisions have been a social planning experiment gone awry from the very beginning.  The confusing and often contradictory laws and court rulings arising from Rounds 1 and 2 of COAH have led to the Borough being sued for lack of compliance and have cost our residents hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.  The entire system is broken and needs to be fixed.

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Asbury Park Press Gets Its Facts Wrong Again

No news. Empty newsstands stored in the Asbury Park Press’s empty parking lot in Neptune.

This morning the Asbury Park Press Neptune Nudniks have an article about something that might be happening and that might cause something else that’s bad to happen.

Two of the three mayors on the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority may be breaking confidentiality rules — and possibly jeopardizing millions of dollars in redevelopment deals — to keep their governing bodies up to date on property negotiations affecting their towns. (Emphasis added)

In a nutshell, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) is the entity responsible for redeveloping the fort that Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt let get away.  The authority is governed by a 13 member board. 6 of the board members are representives of the State government. 1 is a Monmouth County Freeholder, 3 are “public members.” The final three are the mayors of the communities that host the fort, Oceanport, Tinton Falls and Eatontown. 

Here’s where APP reporter Bill Bowman got a basic fact wrong:

A state authority under the umbrella of the state Department of Community Affairs, FMERA is the sole body that seeks out potential buyers and lessors and negotiates and approves contracts for the property.

FMERA is not under the umbrella of the state Department of Community Affairs.  It is an independent authority staffed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

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Groper Fingered For Stuffing Bets

Jeffery Bork

Oceanport Police have arrested Jeffrey L. Bork, 65, of Eatontown and charged him with Criminal Sexual Contact.  A betting teller at Monmouth Park, Bork is alleged to have groped the breasts of several female patrons of the racetrack after putting their betting vouchers down the front of their shirts, according to a statement released by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramicconi.

The incidents reportedly occurred between 1PM and 4PM on Saturday July 13.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Oceanport Police Detective Jonathan Tucci at 732-222-6301 ext. 107.

Bork is being held at Golden’s Palace.  His bail is $15,000 as set by Oceanport Municipal Judge Richard B. Thompson.

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Local New York & New Jersey Lawmakers Issue Joint Appeal For Immediate Hurricane Sandy Relief

Ramapo Supervisor & Oceanport Council President Express Outrage

Suffern, N.Y. – Town of Ramapo Supervisor Christopher P. St. Lawrence (Democrat) and Joseph Irace, Council President – Borough of Oceanport, N.J. (Republican), have issued a joint statement expressing their outrage at the House of Representatives’ failure to pass the $60.4 Billion Aid Package to provide immediate help for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

“While House Speaker Boehner fiddles, thousands of New York and New Jersey residents’ anger burns, and their suffering continues as they feel abandoned by their elected officials said Supervisor St. Lawrence.  The House of Representatives, the so-called people’s house, has turned its back on the American people” he added.

“As a Republican elected official in New Jersey, I cannot fathom the insensitivity of the House of Representatives by not taking action on the Sandy Aid Package.  Disaster relief is not a political issue.  We have residents still displaced from their homes and in need of help and yesterday’s actions by The House of Representatives are inexcusable and unconscionable.  I, along with Ramapo Supervisor St. Lawrence, am asking the House to act on this desperately needed aid package immediately” stated Council President Irace.

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