By Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
ROBBINSVILLE — The most recent Township Council meeting once again came to a point of contention as members argued about the possible creation of an ethics board and revisited the issue of alleged impropriety.
In light of recent disagreements amongst council members, Councilwoman Sonja Walter recommended the township create a local ethics board to help resolve issues.
”It’s a way of taking away this aspect of self-policing of the government itself and put it back in the hands of the public,” she said during the Nov. 13 Township Council meeting. “I think since we work for them, they’re the ones who can make some of these determinations.”
The council would appoint residents to the local ethics board and any vacancies thereafter would be filled by the board’s vote, Ms. Walter said. Board members would review issues, and if Township Attorney Mark Roselli were unable to take a position on legal issues based on personal conflict, the board would seek an impartial attorney’s opinion, she said.
Councilman Rich Levesque, who was sworn in to the council that night, said he did not believe there was a problem. “I took an oath tonight that I would not benefit myself, my employer or anybody I know based on my votes here,” he said. “If we can’t police ourselves, we shouldn’t be up here.”
He added that residents were not qualified to make legal determinations with regard to the Township Council. “I’m not an attorney and I’m not one to make legal decisions based on what I should or should not be voting on,” he said. “If we have six members of the general public perceiving something without knowing what the legal ramifications are, then this ethics board doesn’t mean anything.”
Mr. Levesque noted that he has observed local ethics boards established in other townships and they have turned into “political circuses,” but Ms. Walter asked how that would be any different than the current state of things.
Recent meetings have become contentious, specifically those dealing with Ms. Walter and Councilman Bill Lesniak voting on issues involving Robbinsville-based Sharbell Development Corp.
The township contracted attorney Edwin Schmierer, of Mason, Griffin and Pierson, of Princeton, to review whether Ms. Walter and Mr. Lesniak should recuse themselves from voting on matters involving the corporation because of their relationships with Piazza & Associates, a Princeton company that contracts with Sharbell on affordable housing matters. While the members may not have acted improperly, the attorney stated the two should not vote on those matters because the perception of impropriety exists.
The issue was raised at the Sept. 25 Township Council meeting when Councilman Dave Boyne said he recently discovered that Piazza, for which Ms. Walter works part time as a compliance specialist, had entered into a contract with Sharbell in 2006 to market affordable housing units. Mr. Lesniak is the brother-in-law of Frank Piazza, owner of the firm, and also works there part time. Both council members agreed to recuse themselves, but last week’s meeting returned to dissension when the issue re-emerged.
Ms. Walter said she felt the need for a local ethics board because she did not believe the township’s code of ethics was being “uniformly applied” in the council’s handling of the situation.
”For instance, Mr. Boyne, you voted on paying the school tax,” she said. “Is that a conflict? Who knows, but it could be perceived as one because your wife sits on the school board.”
The councilwoman also contended that Mr. Boyne approached her last month before the issue of her voting on Sharbell was discussed and encouraged her to resign. “What concerns me is that Bill (Lesniak) and I are in the same boat here, and you came to me before the meeting and said, ‘I think you should resign as to leave poor Bill out of this,’” she said. “That says to me that you did not care about the ethics or the conflict, you just wanted me to go.”
Mr. Boyne said that he did not make that statement, but rather asked Ms. Walter what she was going to do about the situation. The two officials began to argue, but Council President Chris Ciaccio banged the gavel to move the meeting to public participation.
Mercer Mobile Homes Vice President Betty Alfano advised the council to not “air dirty laundry in public.”
”We used to enjoy coming to meetings and acting like adults, but everybody is fighting and it’s sad,” she said. “This should be behind closed doors. You should work together to be the township we are proud of.”
Mr. Roselli disseminated information regarding the establishment of a local ethics board to all council members, but Township Clerk Michele Auletta said it could not be released to the public due to attorney-client privilege. Mr. Roselli could not be reached before The Messenger-Press’ deadline.

