By: Judith Glassgold
The first days of the Greenbriar trial are now finished; the trial will resume on May 16 and then run three days a week until early June. By then all the testimony in the conflict of interest case should have been heard.
If conflicts are determined to have occurred, the judge will hold a hearing regarding the appropriate remedies. After these concerns are resolved a hearing or trial on planning issues and affordable housing concerns will commence. There is a good possibility that the planning issues will not be resolved until next year.
The issues being considered currently have to do with good government and conflict of interest. A number of participants in Greenbriar also hold positions in local and county government. At issue is whether these dual relationships compromised the planning process.
The testimony has been rather detailed and, at times, tedious. The first question is whether money was lent to Mr. Bates by a variety of individuals including Harry Smith, the developer of Greenbriar.
Testimony has been heard from Fred Quick, Tom Bates and Harry Smith on these issues. A loan of $ 20,000 did occur. There are a variety of disputes on whether that loan was paid back, transferred, or converted to stock.
However, does that loan constitute a conflict for Mr. Bates? Did he influence the approval of Greenbriar? A variety of facts have been considered and then there are issues of law.
Does accepting a loan compromise a planning official for the duration of a project or just under certain circumstances? The court will address whether Tom Bates a conflict of interest occurred with regards to the loan for Tom Bates.
Other issues at stake are those of governmental process and relate to local and state procedures and jurisdiction of a variety of agencies. The court will be matching the conduct of individuals to the correct local, state and county approval processes to see if procedures and laws were followed appropriately.
Here the conflict is alleged to have occurred due to the dual roles of Harry Smith, chairman of the Hillsborough Township Municipal Utilities Authority and developer of Greenbriar; Thomas Miller, county counsel and attorney to Hillsborough Alliance for Adult Living the developer; and Robert Heibel, consulting engineer and landowner.
At issue here is the wastewater management planning process in Hillsborough. Who was responsible for planning where sewers would go? Was the MUA involved and Mr. Smith?
So far no one is taking responsibility for actions that placed Greenbriar in the county sewer plan. This is one of the issues to be considered in terms of Mr. Smith’s conflicts.
Did his dual position as developer and with the Municipal Utilities Authority constitute a conflict? Did his position on the county advisory committee for Wastewater Planning constitute a conflict? Was he permitted to appear on behalf of the development to the planning board?
Testimony has been heard from Shirley Yannich, township planner; Frank Scarantino, township engineer; Harry Smith, former chairman of the Municipal Utilities Authority; Anthony McCracken of the Somerset County Planning Department; Justin Mahon, consulting engineer, Gail Quabeck, executive director of the Municipal Utilities Authority, on these issues.
The Court will decide if Mr. Smith violated existing ethics codes.
Mr. Miller, county counsel, is also alleged to have been acting as HAAL’s attorney while serving the county as attorney. Allegations are that this poses a conflict as the project impacts county roads and county wastewater management planning.
Finally, Mr., Heibel is alleged to have not disclosed to the township, when he served as consultant to the township for certain wastewater management issues, of his share of ownership of a parcel of land included in the site.
Most of the testimony on these issues will be heard in May.
David Trombadore, Friends of Hillsborough, is the lead attorney on these issues. However, the township attorney Mr. Farber has taken a strong role in this case. This is a change in the role of James Farber since the new administration took over January 2000.
Prior to this, the township stance was rather wishy-washy and indecisive. Now that Mr. Farber is taking an active role the chances of winning this case have improved. However, since the trial will go on into next fall and next year, continuity of this strategy is crucial.
Judith Glassgold is a Wertzville Road resident and president of Friends of Hillsborough.
