EDISON – The Township Council narrowly approved the hiring of a consultant, Greg Fehrenbach, during its regular May 14 meeting, to assist township financial experts in preparing the budget.
The $30,000 professional services contract was approved 4-3, with opponents of the resolution wondering whether Fehrenbach’s services were necessary amid all the other people the township employs to work with its finances. Supporters of the measure, however, felt that Fehrenbach was needed, because this year’s budget could be particularly difficult.
A correspondence to Councilman Wayne Mascola from Robert Morrison, a certified public accountant who does work for the township, echoes these sentiments, with much of the letter focusing on the stresses that decreasing spending caps, as mandated by the state government, can have on Edison’s finances. The letter also states that the township has relied on “cap banks” that let appropriations increase beyond the set limits, but that this bank is running out. It recommends Fehrenbach’s assistance to work on the budget because he will be able to devote all his attention to it without having other day-to-day duties, unlike other township employees.
“Based on Mr. Morrison’s recommendations, I am in favor of this,” said Mascola during the meeting.
During the meeting’s public portion, Councilman Robert Karabinchak spoke about his reservations regarding this correspondence, saying that Morrison went too far.
“You can ask him for his opinion about anything. … But to give his written opinion as a consultant really oversteps his bounds,” said Karabinchak.
During discussions about the resolution, Councilman Anthony Massaro said that he supports hiring Fehrenbach in theory but expressed concern over potential legal issues, saying that certain procedures were not followed. He said a township ordinance states that professional services need to have at least three, if not more, competitive quotes and that the township has received only one, from Fehrenbach himself.
“Voting yes on this violates the municipal ordinance … I’d like to vote yes on this, but I don’t think I can do it,” said Massaro, who added that despite this, Fehrenbach’s $30,000 rate was comparatively cheap.
Township Attorney Jeff Lehrer tried to assure Massaro that there was nothing to worry about, noting that the contract went through an alternate process called the Fair and Open Process, which runs by slightly different rules.
“It is, in my opinion, a different process that was gone through and, in my opinion, it was done properly,” said Lehrer.
Massaro said he still believes that the resolution violated township ordinance, insisting that two to three competitive quotes were needed before the contract could be approved. He asked what recourse would be available to them if they were inadvertently breaking the law, and Lehrer repeated that he didn’t think this was the case.
Edison resident Joe Petrucelli, a regular at township meetings, expressed some skepticism that the township ever intended to look for anyone besides Fehrenbach for the job. He said the ad placed on the township Web site was too narrow to fit anyone except Fehrenbach, noting that one of the requirements was familiarity with Edison’s budgets specifically. Overall, he felt that the contract was unnecessary since the township already has a chief financial officer and a business administrator.
“You keep bringing in more and more people … you keep putting layers upon layers in the budget,” said Petrucelli.
Ultimately, the vote fell along factional lines, with the four new council members – Ann Marie Griffin-Ussak, Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad, Melissa Perilstein, and Mascola – overpowering the other three council members, Robert Diehl, Massaro and Antonia Ricigliano. This was the second time the resolution had come before the council, after they unanimously tabled the measure during their April 9 meeting.
Fehrenbach previously consulted with the township as part of Edison Mayor Jun Choi’s transition team that in 2006 said the township was in fiscal crisis. His fivemonth contract for that consultation came to $52,000, a rate that was narrowly approved by the council at that time. His hiring then, as now, was seen as a contentious issue.