Former clerk’s response to minutes issue is disappointing

Iwas disappointed, but not surprised to see in a letter to the News Transcript dated Oct. 22 that the former Freehold Township clerk, Romeo Cascaes, defended the Township Committee’s practice of regularly holding private meetings before the public meetings and keeping biased minutes.

They are only supposed to hold private meetings for certain purposes, such as discussions of litigation or personnel issues.

Although Mr. Cascaes kept the minutes for the township, he must have forgotten that he wrote in the minutes that the purpose of these meetings was to “review the agenda,” which is not a legal reason for a private meeting.

And speaking of the minutes, why does Mr. Cascaes think that biased minutes are OK? Maybe the law doesn’t require the minutes to be complete and include every member of the public who spoke, but why wouldn’t you want the minutes to be complete? Are there hundreds of people lining up at every meeting, that you can’t include all of them?

Or perhaps Mr. Cascaes is the wrong person to answer questions about ethics. Just three months ago, according to an article in the Asbury Park Press dated July 25, he was ordered to return $22,000 in pension benefits when he was found to be double dipping.
Ann Napolitano
Freehold Township