Web only: New Rules for Advisory Board of Health

Board must get Township Council approval before creating fact finding committees.

By: Joseph Harvie
   Over the objections of the Advisory Board of Health, the Township Council adopted an ordinance Tuesday that limits how the advisory board can establish subcommittees to investigate issues pertaining to public health.
   The council voted 4-0 in favor of the ordinance, with Councilman Joe Camarota abstaining. Mr. Camarota said he did not think the advisory board was given proper notification that the ordinance was going to be adopted.
   He said that since he was the only member of council who wanted to table the ordinance to give the advisory board more time to look it over, he decided not to vote. He said he would have voted in favor of the ordinance if the board had been given time to review it.
   The ordinance prohibits the Advisory Board of Health from establishing fact-finding committees without the approval of the township Board of Health, which is the Township Council.
   The council introduced the ordinance April 11, a month after the advisory board held an information session on the flooding issue on Davidsons Mill Road without the Board of Health or Township Council’s approval.
   Board Commissioner John Saccenti, father of South Brunswick Post News Editor John Saccenti, read an official statement Tuesday on behalf of the Advisory Board of Health objecting to the ordinance on the grounds that it would make it harder for the board to deal with public health matters.
   Board member Edward Peloquin also spoke out against the ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting, arguing that it would make the advisory board’s job more difficult.
   Both board members said they were concerned that seeking approval from the council before creating a sub-committee would slow the process. Mr. Peloquin said that he was concerned that the board was not given notice that the ordinance was going to be introduced or adopted.
   According to the section of the Township Code that established the Advisory Board of Health, the board is required to review all proposed, health-related ordinances prior to passage by the council.
   But there is no requirement that the council inform the board about proposed ordinances and Township Attorney Don Sears said Tuesday that since members of the board were present during the hearing and commented on the ordinance, there was no violation of that section of the code.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese said that the ordinance was not drafted with the intention of making the board’s job harder, but rather to ensure that the board didn’t look into things the council has ordered other groups to look into.
   Councilman Chris Killmurray said that the ordinance seemed like a "housekeeping" ordinance, drafted to make the board’s section of township code similar to that of other boards. He said that it also establishes a chain of command in the township, and will ensure that council knows what the Advisory board is looking into.