Committee said to be at work in attempt to recall Helmetta mayor
Unnamed group reportedly focusing on issues of
pay raises, grants
A search for documented proof of misconduct by Helmetta Mayor Frank Hague is reportedly being performed by a three-member recall committee expected to file a petition with the borough clerk once its research is complete, borough Councilman Tom Reid said this week.
However, supporters of Hague, who is beginning the third year of his first four-year term as mayor, said they question whether the mayor has done anything wrong.
Reid said he asked the mayor to resign before the start of the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting at the request of the so-called recall committee, whose members’ names have not been released to the public. Reid said he is not one of the committee members but would not disclose who the members are.
At the meeting, the councilman publicly read aloud the legal procedures of a recall, surprising many in attendance.
The tactic didn’t sit well with everyone.
"I just hate to see anyone use power this way," said Helmetta Democratic Party Vice Chairman Don Vitale about Reid’s announcement.
Reid and Hague are both members of the Democratic Party.
An attorney, who asked not to be identified, confirmed last week that he gave advice to a group of residents on how to go about a recall, but said he was not representing the residents, whom he would not identify.
Reid said he was instructed by the committee to publicly ask for a recall of the mayor if he would not resign.
"I was asked by the recall committee to do this," Reid said about his decision to read the recall procedures at the Jan. 1 meeting. Reid, a Democrat on the split-party council, is serving his second three-year term in office.
"The committee told me they want to get paperwork where the mayor gave unjustified pay raises before a resolution was passed authorizing this," Reid said, describing one issue that the committee is said to be researching.
"They [the recall committee] don’t want to look like fools," Reid said about the committee’s decision to remain anonymous until a formal petition is filed with the borough clerk. "They want to have all their cards in place before they take action."
Reid referred to ordinances and resolutions passed by the council within the past year to approve pay raises for certain borough employees. Last summer, local Republicans complained publicly about a $5,000 pay raise given to Business Administrator Jim Pickering, approved June 13 but effective almost one year earlier. The council passed a resolution rescinding the raise July 12 — which was said to be for additional hours worked since his employment began and, according to the resolution, had been given to Pickering "informally" in February 2000.
Another alleged example of misconduct by the mayor, according to Reid, involves the use of two recreation grants, received from Middlesex County in 1999 and from the state in 2001, which totaled $250,000.
"[Hague] has not moved on recreation," Reid said. "Where did the grant money go?"
Reid said the recall committee is questioning why both the county and state grants have not yet been spent for recreation facilities. According to public records, $8,500 was used to build a 50-by-100-foot pocket park on North Shore Boulevard out of the total $250,000 received by the borough.
Hague fired back this week in reaction to Reid’s actions.
"People are outraged that he is doing this to our community and giving us bad press," Hague said. "Don’t try to smut our town out. We’re a good community, and we’re trying to do good things. If he has something [to say against a public official], then come forward with it; say what he has to say."
Hague said he and Reid became friends when the mayor moved to the borough about eight years ago, but a disagreement between the two men caused a rift in the friendship that has left the two battling one another and is motivating Reid to seek his recall.
"I didn’t know Tom until I moved to Helmetta," Hague said. "I’ve been friends with him since I moved here seven or eight years ago. He’s fine until you disagree with him about the wrong thing. He’s taken things to another level with the recall. He’s a very unpredictable person."
"I hope all this negative stuff doesn’t impact our community," Hague said.
Newly elected Councilman Ed Romano, one of two Republicans now on the council, expressed his dismay with the events that transpired at the reorganization meeting.
"We got hit blindsided by that," Romano said about Reid’s announcement. "We were outraged."
"We’ve asked Reid to give us a chance to work with the mayor and council and see how we [the two Republicans] do," Romano said.
"There were enough people in the borough who believed there were improprieties going on," Romano said of the decisions by himself and other council members at the reorganization meeting to postpone renewing the appointments of a number of borough officials, including business administrator, engineer, auditor and planner.
"We are not looking to give the municipal workers perks. We do not want to hire people who are just out to fatten their pockets," Romano said. "We want to make sure we’re not reappointing anyone who may not be looking out for Helmetta."