By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR The Township Council is discussing an amendment to township code that could end the costly litigation between Councilman Charles Morgan and Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh.
The council was asked last week to approve $10,000 to cover the mayor’s legal fees but approved $7,500 on Monday night, hoping litigation might end soon.
Mr. Morgan has proposed an amendment that, if adopted, he said he “would walk away happily” from litigation.
But before taking any action, the council will write a letter to the League of Municipalities, asking it to review Mr. Morgan’s amendment and input from Councilwoman Linda Geevers.
”It’s a volatile issue and it needs an objective third party (to review it),” said Councilwoman Diane Ciccone.
The council asked Mr. Morgan and Mayor Hsueh’s attorney, Ryan Secare, to ask the judge for a stay to minimize cost while awaiting the league’s response. Mr. Morgan said he already requested a stay but hadn’t received a response as of Monday.
The amendment, dated June 14, aims to codify clarifications to the code and state statute pertaining to the council’s right to request information from the mayor and administration. Mr. Morgan’s current and past lawsuit have invoked the statute that says “any council member may at any time require a report on any aspect of government by making a written request to the mayor.” His suits claim the mayor has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for information.
Among the changes, Mr. Morgan proposes that a report be signed by the mayor and provided “within a reasonable period of time.”
”I never suggested (the mayor) do the work himself he can delegate the work,” Mr. Morgan said. But a signature ensures “he knows what’s there and we know we can rely on it.”
He suggests a change constituting email as an acceptable form to submit requests and receive responses. And he suggested all such correspondence be submitted to the clerk’s office and other members of council for record keeping.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers suggested defining the timeframe as 10 business days, unless a longer period of time is mutually agreed upon.
Administrator Bob Hary said about $15,000 was spent on the first lawsuit; Mr. Secare expects that amount to be the same or less for the second lawsuit because the complaint is very similar, he said. The $7,500 includes covering $3,500, which has spent above the previous $10,000 appropriation, and about $4,000 needed to cover the most recent appeal.
According to Mr. Hary, Mr. Secare believes the court will probably dismiss this suit on the same grounds as the first one, but if litigation continues, more money will be needed.
”If the court finds it to have legs, the cost will be more,” Mr. Hary said.
