Mayor ends procedure implemented earlier this year
By:Alec Moore
After being challenged by Committeewoman Sonya Martin in two consecutive meetings, Mayor Tony Gwiazdowski said Wednesday he will allow the township clerk to resume opening mail sent to him, either by name or by title.
Last week, during the committee’s work meeting, Ms. Martin questioned why Mr. Gwiazdowski had been taking mail addressed to "Mayor, Township of Hillsborough" or "Mayor Anthony Gwiazdowski" before it had been marked as received by Township Clerk Ann Marie McCarthy’s office. Ms. Martin raised the issue again during Tuesday’s committee meeting.
It had been the practice in Hillsborough for the clerk to officially receive all correspondence, recording the date or receipt and distributing copies. Earlier this year, Mr. Gwiazdowski told Ms. McCarthy to give him all mail addressed to the mayor without first opening it.
On Wednesday, the day after the mail issue was raised for a second time at a committee meeting, the mayor announced the policy change to Ms. McCarthy, Township Administrator Judith Haas and all township department heads.
Mr. Gwiazdowski said his decision to allow Ms. McCarthy to resume opening mail was based on his not having ample time during the summer to distribute mail addressed to him to the appropriate department heads for follow-up.
"I expect the clerk to open my mail because of the limited amount of time I’ll be able to spend at the municipal building," he said. "This is not just for the summer months, this is from here on going forward."
At Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting, Ms. Martin said the township’s policy of allowing only Mr. Gwiazdowski to open mail addressed to the mayor was a "dangerous policy."
During the meeting Ms. Martin, a Democrat, made a motion to have the policy immediately lifted to allow the clerk to open mail sent to the Republican mayor. The motion was not seconded. Committeeman Joe Tricarico, the committee’s only other Democrat, was not present for the meeting.
"I immediately call for an end to the procedure instituted by the mayor and a return to the past practice in the handling of correspondences," said Ms. Martin.
She stated that she believes prohibiting the clerk from opening all mail sent to the mayor would not allow the clerk to adequately document all official correspondences sent to the township and thus not keep accurate records as required by the Open Public Meeting Act.
"The issue deals with the clerk’s needs to properly control, file and record township correspondences in terms of the Open Public Records Act," said Ms. Martin. In response to Ms. Martin’s charge, Township Attorney Albert Cruz stated that as long as the mail is distributed by the mayor in a timely manner, then Ms. McCarthy’s ability to document all official correspondences should not be hindered.
"There is a procedure in place that adequately protects the interests of the township and the public," said Mr. Cruz, referring to the mail policy.
Ms. Martin responded by saying, "It doesn’t protect my interests as an elected official; I am entitled to have copies of all official correspondences and that is not happening," she said. She noted correspondence sent by Mr. Cruz referred to a letter sent to the township June 3 which had not been distributed.
Prior to Mr. Gwiazdowski announcement Wednesday that he would revert back to the original mail-opening policy, Township Administrator Judith Haas had sent a letter to the Government Records Council in Trenton requesting clarification on the statutory requirements for handling official township mail.