Lengthy debate and charges that council members were spiteful precede split vote.
By: Shanay Cadette
WEST WINDSOR The ongoing dispute over an $11,000 expenditure of open-space funds got personal even spiteful for some council members at the township’s Monday meeting.
The debate finally ended when the council voted 3-2 Monday to have what was considered improperly spent money reallocated to the open-space maintenance fund.
There was nothing quick or simple about the decision, however. It was marked by lengthy debate over the method of returning about $11,000, and Council President Kristin Appelget and Councilman Franc Gambatese voted against the resolution, claiming members were nitpicking and making personal attacks.
Township officials, council members and residents have been disagreeing for months over the propriety of using the maintenance portion of the open-space tax fund on salaries, equipment and footwear for employees in the public works department. Officials have also pointed out that some open-space maintenance funds that should have been spent were not used on the proper items.
Members of the nonprofit organization Friends of West Windsor Open Space and others say the open-space tax referendum clearly states that only up to 10 percent of the $1.8 million generated through the tax can be used for the maintenance or development of open space purchased with open-space revenues. The remaining 90 percent of the fund is designated for open-space purchases.
Council members have said they have allowed about $11,000 of the maintenance fund to be used inappropriately for months under the belief that the money would be replenished through a budget transfer at the end of the year.
Council members claim the administration told them the transfer was permissible, then told them it was not. They say they read in a memo from the chief financial officer to the business administrator that "there is no other means to address (the replacement of funds) in 2003" when in fact there was, according to the township auditor.
Members were then told they could not approve an emergency appropriation to divert the funds back because it was not a true emergency, and a line-by-line reallocation between the open-space fund and other accounts was too time-consuming.
All of the back-and-forth maneuvering between the council and township administration is detailed in the resolution the council approved for the replenishment of the maintenance funds. Not only does the resolution detail the history of the debate over open space it specifically singles out two employees Chief Financial Officer Joanne Louth and outgoing Business Administrator Barbara Evans.
The "township council relied on the representations of the business administrator and continued to approve bills notwithstanding ongoing concerns about bills inappropriately being paid from open-space funds, and ongoing concerns about other bills that should have been paid from open-space funds," the resolution reads in part.
Before deciding to just leave titles in the resolution document and take out names, Mr. Gambatese criticized members for what he said was making the issue a personal one in the resolution. Ms. Appelget castigated some members earlier in the meeting for reducing the debate to "ridiculous levels of minutia."
"I just don’t understand the point" of the detailed resolution, Mr. Gambatese said. "It looks like spite."
Council member Alison Miller, who authored the resolution along with Charles Morgan, said it is important to detail the history of the problems with the open-space fund.
"I don’t mind removing names, but the history is important," Mr. Morgan said.
To make her job easier, Ms. Louth suggested the council repay the $11,000 by voting for funds to be placed in the 2004 temporary budget. Township Attorney Michael Herbert offered the idea of setting up an open-space account in the operating budget in 2004 to more easily move funds back and forth.
Both those ideas were rejected by the council.
Council Vice President Jackie Alberts voted for the reallocation, along with Mr. Morgan and Ms. Miller.
While members said they sympathize with the amount of time the reallocations will take to complete, Mr. Morgan said he was beyond offering olive branches in the spirit of compromise. He likened the whole debate over open space to the "olive branch being taken from you and being beaten with it."
"I think this council needs to take a position," he said.