Council moves meeting to Friday

Lack of quorum forces rescheduling

By:Alec Moore
   A lack of communication led to the postponement of Tuesday’s Borough Council meeting.
   While the council generally holds its regular meetings on the second and fourth Monday of each month, this week’s meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday, due to the Memorial Day holiday. The meeting has since been rescheduled for 4:30 p.m. Friday.
   Mayor Angelo Corradino said that while he was aware that Borough Council President Ted Petrock would be unable to attend, he was unaware that Councilwoman Senga Allan and Councilman Mike Polak also would be unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
   Mayor Corradino himself had made plans to attend a New Jersey Devils hockey game, leaving Councilwoman Susan Asher, Councilman Martin Wierzba and Councilman Tom Weiss to hold the meeting.
   "We didn’t have a quorum," said the mayor. Without a quorum of four governing body members, the borough is unable to take formal action on matters before it.
   Councilman Martin Wierzba, who was not pleased by the postponement and subsequent rescheduling of the meeting, said he does not begrudge his fellow council members, or the mayor, for being unavailable for the meeting.
   He does, however, feel that the mayor and council’s lack of communication and inability to coordinate personal schedules is unacceptable.
   "The issue here is that we’ve got to communicate and we’ve got to work around each other’s schedules," he continued. "The bottom line is that we have to have enough people have a meeting.
   "This basically comes down to us not having a meeting because the mayor didn’t know who was going to be there and who couldn’t make it," Mr. Wierzba said.
   Mr. Wierzba added that he feels the mayor, council members and other borough officials should keep the council’s meeting schedule in mind when making personal plans for the year.
   "We’re elected officials and we have an obligation to serve the public," he said. "I understand that we all need to take a vacation and I know there are always things that may come up at the last second, but Manville has to come first."
   Mayor Corradino accused Mr. Wierzba of using the postponement of Tuesday’s meeting as a campaign ploy for the November race for mayor. "He’s trying to make this into a political issue," he said.
   The council was expected to hold a public hearing and vote on the borough’s proposed relocation assistance fund Tuesday. The ordinance will effectively give the borough the power to recoup expenses incurred from landlords who are in violation of housing laws.
   Mayor Corradino said Borough Attorney C. Douglas Reina is looking into whether the borough is legally obligated to re-advertise for the public hearing on the ordinance.