MANVILLE: Mayor: Recreation issue seemed political

To the editor:
   I am writing in response to the recent letter to the editor written by Joe Lukac regarding a situation that occurred in May and was recently discussed at a Manville Council meeting.
   In his letter, Mr. Lukac states that I was preventing a certain letter received from the Manville Board of Education and addressed to the Mayor and Council from being read in public, which is the furthest from the truth.
   What I did was check with our attorney to confirm it could be read in public and that we were not violating anyone’s rights. While the council meeting in question did get a little heated, what the writer of the letter failed to note is that the senior citizen involved in the shouting match is the Republican Municipal Chairman, who was accusatory of one councilperson and our Council President without knowing all the facts, and asked for their resignations.
   Mr. Lukac also stated that I did not have the right to call a recess. As a former member of the school board, Mr. Lukac should be familiar with Robert’s Rules, but I guess he is not, and once again Mr. Lukac was mistaken. In order to eliminate a further disturbance, I called a recess and took the councilman and Council President inside an adjacent room to cool down. Once we continued with the meeting, apologies were given on both sides and accepted and the meeting continued.
   To answer Mr. Lukac’s accusation about taking the situation that arose at a function on school property seriously and not addressing the matter, I would like to answer him in no uncertain terms.
   We take every accusation seriously and address these matters as they are brought to our attention. When I found out about the incident that took place that afternoon in May, I immediately requested that our police chief investigate the events and report back to me and the administrator regarding what happened and who was involved.
   Once we received the memorandum from the Police Department, appropriate and serious disciplinary action was taken with regard to the individual or individuals involved. This action was taken in early June, as was stated at the Council Meeting being questioned and earlier meetings when this was discussed in both closed sessions and public comment.
   It is ironic that a non-recreation event that took place in May and addressed in June is being brought up now that the election season is at hand. Could it be the concerned council members have sat on their hands for the last four years and have never come up with a productive idea or motion, and are now looking for campaign issues?
   Let’s remember that they also had this letter since June and did not approach the issue until now. I, the administrator and Council President took the appropriate corrective action and disciplinary steps needed, and were assured this situation will never happen again. It is easy to be a “Monday morning quarterback” and criticize after the fact.
   I hope this response answers any inquires that the public may have due to the inaccurate information stated in Mr. Lukac’s letter. Mr. Lukac’s letter could be construed as sour grapes since Mr. Lukac was a former Democratic municipal chairman who wanted to run for mayor and was not chosen by the committee. Mr. Lukac changed parties and is now a Republican committee person.
   Manville has enough pressing issues to handle instead of politicizing a dead issue. We need to continue moving forward and re-energizing our community instead of bringing it down with false accusations pertaining to purported inaction just to drum up campaign issues.
Angelo Corradino
Mayor
Manville