HIGHTSTOWN: Musing resigns from Borough Council

By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — Dimitri Musing resigned from the Borough Council on Tuesday, a week after protesting the council’s resistance to immediately acting on a resolution that he claimed would protect its members from personal liability in lawsuits brought against them.
   The now-former Democratic councilman, who served nearly half of his first three-year term, sent a resignation letter to Borough Clerk Debra Sopronyi that was similar to the statement he read during the council’s April 4 meeting.
   He said during that meeting that each member of the council, as well as members of each municipal board and every borough employee, can be personally sued for conducting borough business, even in good faith, and the borough was not obligated to cover their defense. Mr. Musing said the council’s inaction on changing this was why he left the governing body.
   ”Eight days have passed, during which time I joined a fellow council member in requesting a special meeting of the members of council to get a resolution and/or ordinance in place to put this issue to rest. Nothing has occurred to date,” Mr. Musing wrote in the letter. “It is because of this that I provide all of you with my resignation as a Council member of the Borough of Hightstown, effective immediately.”
   Mr. Musing, reached by phone late Tuesday afternoon, said, “I thought it was of that much importance that I decided to resign because of it.
   ”The issue needs to be resolved,” he said. “This issue is important for all the members serving on various boards … every single volunteer in the Borough of Hightstown.”
   Mr. Musing is not alone. Council President Isabel McGinty recused herself from next Wednesday’s council meeting, citing the same issue that prompted Mr. Musing’s resignation. With Mayor Steve Kirson planning a trip to Arizona and Councilwoman Selena Bibens expected to be on vacation, the council likely won’t have a quorum for its meeting and will have to reschedule it.
   ”I have no choice but to recuse myself from any discussion of the defense and indemnification issue, if it is ever listed on a council agenda,” Ms. McGinty, a Democrat, wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to the rest of the council. “In addition, I must recuse myself from participation in the conduct of all other borough business at meetings until the council addresses what legal protections are in place for borough officials for the performance of their official duties.”
   She told the Herald on Wednesday that in her current situation, she was forced into a position of conflict over the matter, though she said she was “not at liberty” to elaborate on that conflict.
   Mayor Kirson said Wednesday that he was surprised by Mr. Musing’s resignation.
   ”I know he made a pretty big statement a week ago but I didn’t have any indication that he would resign until yesterday (Tuesday),” Mayor Kirson said.
   The mayor said the remaining council members were reviewing a resolution that would provide the kind of protection Mr. Musing and Ms. McGinty sought. He said the council was devising an ordinance that would create a way for the borough to fund an individual council member’s, board member’s or borough employee’s defense if the borough’s insurance failed to cover them if they were to be sued for their official actions on the borough’s behalf.
   While Mr. Musing stated “nothing has occurred” during the eight days between the last council meeting and his resignation on the matter, Mayor Kirson said the other council members were in fact researching it, even if no official action took place in the past week. They were still tweaking the wording of the ordinance to make sure it’s in line with other municipalities in Mercer County, he added.
   Mayor Kirson, a Democrat, said he hoped to see it on the agenda at the next council meeting.
   ”Let me make it very clear that the members of the council are taking it very seriously,” Mayor Kirson said. “It’s an ordinance that will go forward. … It’s important that we get the wording correct. We appreciate the importance of it but we have to get the wording correctly.”
   Ms. McGinty, also a Democrat, countered that she had requested discussion on such an ordinance, accusing the rest of the council of not allowing for it.
   ”The issue is not ‘will the council pass the resolution or pass the ordinance.’ It’s ‘will the council even put it on for discussion?’” Ms. McGinty said. “How are they discussing the wording if it wasn’t even put on the agenda for discussion?”
   Ms. McGinty also denied that the issue was suddenly brought up the day of the April 4 council meeting. Though she said the resolution she and Mr. Musing advocated was drafted that day, she said, “there was advance notice on this and there was advance notice on the urgency. The council had days to think about this.”
   When asked, Ms. McGinty added that she, unlike her colleague, had no plans to resign over the indemnification issue.
   Walter Sikorski, the Democratic municipal chairman for Hightstown and a former Borough Council member, said the Democratic Municipal Committee will have two weeks to nominate three candidates to replace Mr. Musing, and the remaining council members — two Democrats and three Republicans, if Ms. McGinty does not recuse herself — will choose one of the three. The selected replacement will serve until November, when the remaining year of Mr. Musing’s term will be up for election.
   Hightstown’s borough code does not allow the mayor to vote on any of the candidates.
   Ms. Sopronyi said any political party has until 48 days prior to the Nov. 8 election, or until Sept. 21, to nominate someone for election to complete Mr. Musing’s term. This election will coincide with those for Ms. McGinty’s and Republican Councilwoman Skye Gilmartin’s seats. Ms. Gilmartin is seeking her first full term, while Ms. McGinty is not seeking re-election.