JACKSON — On Election Day in November 2013, Jackson residents may have a chance to let municipal officials know that they believe an in-house legal department should replace the use of outside firms for the township’s legal work.
A move is under way to place a referendum question on the ballot that would ask voters to state whether they believe an inhouse legal department is a good option for Jackson.
An attempt to place the question on the Nov. 6, 2012 ballot ran out of time, according to municipal officials.
On Aug. 28, Raymond Cattonar, the founder of the Jackson Taxpayer Association, presented a petition to municipal officials. The petition calls for the creation of an in-house legal department in an attempt to reduce Jackson’s legal bills.
Cattonar is a candidate for the Township Council in the November race.
“I believe in cost savings,” Cattonar said. “Over the last five years, Jackson has spent an average of $1 million in legal fees. In my opinion, the system is broken.”
In 2011, Cattonar submitted a feasibility study examining the idea of an in-house legal department to the council and the mayor’s office, hoping to move the issue forward. He has suggested hiring an attorney and a paralegal who would be salaried municipal employees.
Currently, Jackson contracts with the firm of Gilmore and Monahan to provide legal services.
Cattonar was joined in the petition effort by residents Nicolas Antonoff Jr., Catherine Giancola, Richard Davidson and Roger Downing. He said the group collected almost 1,000 signatures in four-and-a-half months.
For reasons having to do with vetting the signatures of the individuals who signed the petition and meeting certain deadlines, township clerk Ann Marie Eden said the referendum question sought by the petitioners could not be placed on the 2012 ballot.
The earliest it could appear on the ballot is 2013.
Cattonar said he was disheartened by the delay, but said he will still press for the council to consider the idea of adopting an ordinance to create an in-house legal team.
“I am interested in the most qualified attorney we can obtain,” he said. “You would want the most qualified individual and there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of individuals willing to work under these parameters.”
In other news, a server issue is being cited for months of email records going missing in various departments in town.
According to a number of residents who had been requesting emails from the recreation department through the state’s Open Public Records Act, they only received messages dating back as far as six months.
State law mandates that email correspondence of township employees should be kept as public records for three years, whether digitally or on printed pages.
Officials said the township’s server was only able to archive incoming messages from 2010. Email records for the council, the mayor and the administration were fully archived.
Business Administrator Jose Torres said all departments had been made aware of the issue and were working on a way to prevent further complications.