There are so many misleading and contrived statements
in this article written by Dave Desai on January 31, 2015 we are going to address just a few:
·
We don’t know where
he gets that the Council President is “largely ceremonial”; he then
proceeds to criticize the Council for voting for Councilman Mastrangelo as
Council President, who has beginning his third year on the Council. One moment it is a largely ceremonial
position then it is too important for a third year councilman. For example, former Councilman Falkoski
was chosen Council President with less than one year on the Council, and
the town survived.
·
For the past sixty
years the Riverdale Mayor has appointed the council committees. The
question of the legality of this practice has been answered many times.
The Council has many powers and it has the ability to delegate those
powers to another entity/person (i.e. the Mayor or an Administrator).
Many towns allow the Mayor to make the appointments. NJSA 40A:60-3 (State
law) addresses council committees and provides that “[t]he council may,
at its annual meeting, establish for its members such committees of the
council…and the manner in which they are appointed.”
·
A person runs for
Council not for a council committee.
When the Mayor appointed Vinnie Pellegrini Chairman of the Finance
Committee, Mr. Pelegrini complained about the appointment saying that he
wasn’t experienced in finance and that “he wasn’t qualified”. Ninety percent of all that the Council
does is spend tax money. If he isn’t
qualified then he had no business running for Council.
·
Just because
Councilman Pellegrini is a plumber doesn’t necessarily follow that he
should be put in charge of the DPW.
We have more than qualified supervisors in the DPW, they don’t need
a councilman telling them what to do.
At one time we had an engineer on the Council who was in charge of
the DPW. He tried to tell them what
to do and how to do it, resulting in resentment and lowered morale.
·
Mr. Pellegrini
referred to our shared services as “madness” and promised to end them. By going on the Finance Committee he has
been given the opportunity to make good.
If not, he could have claimed that he wasn’t in a position to fulfil
his promise.
·
By assigning the
members of the Council to different committees it gives them exposure to
all facets of the business of the government. This makes for well-rounded
representatives.
·
During the
Re-Organization meeting Councilman Astarita remarked that he was put in
charge of Finance by then Mayor Dedio his first year on the Council. He didn’t complain or whine about not
being qualified. He said that he
learned the job and was better for it.
