BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer
WOODBRIDGE — The Township Council adopted a pay-to-play reform ordinance last year, but local Republicans say the Democratic administration has found a way around the law.
“I think they found a loophole in the pay-to-play ordinance,” said Ezio Tamburello, chairman of the local GOP organizations issue advisory panel.
Tamburello is also running as the Republican candidate in the fifth ward this November.
The pay-to-play legislation adopted by the council last year places a cap on how much professional service providers with township contracts may donate to township and county political parties.
The ordinance, which became effective Jan. 1, 2005, placed a $400 cap on contributions to municipal candidates; a $500 limit to municipal and county parties; and allows a maximum $2,500 aggregate from firms.
The council earlier this year put their municipal legal service contracts out to bid.
Legal services are professional services. The township awarded the legal service contracts to the same law firms contracted last year. But instead of granting them the contracts, the township put a notice for legal services out to bid.
The firms who received the contracts last year were the only firms who bid on the contracts in 2005, Business Administrator Robert Landolfi said.
“The notice of bid was advertised,” he said. “The bid was accepted and reviewed and the award was made by the council.”
Last month, Tamburello proposed an ordinance to the council that would require the township to receive at least three bids for all municipal goods and services exceeding $15,000.
The proposal would also require bids to be advertised for seven consecutive days instead of just one, according to the proposed ordinance written by the local Republican organization’s issue advisory panel.
While legal advertising costs would increase, Tamburello said the amount would be negligible.
“When you’re talking about contracts costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, it would be money well spent,” he said.
The township voted on Jan. 18 to award James Nolan a contract as the township law director at $110 per hour with a $12,000 retainer annually to attend meetings.
The same night, Craig Coughlin was contracted as the municipal counselor at $100 per hour along with the $12,000 retainer.
Coughlin was also contracted at $75 per hour, with a salary not to exceed $2,200 annually, as the municipal rent leveling board’s legal representative.
The council approved Feb. 1 two more legal service contracts.
Coughlin and Nolan have been the municipal counselor and law director, respectively, since 2002, Municipal Clerk John Mitch said.
Coughlin and Nolan each donated $3,500 to the Woodbridge Democratic Organization as of October, according to New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) reports.
New Brunswick-based firm of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas, was awarded the $115 per hour property tax attorney contract.
The firm donated $5,000 to the local party in 2004, according to state ELEC reports.
Livingston law firm Genova Burns & Vernoia has been Woodbridge’s labor attorneys since 1989, Mitch said.
The firm was awarded the township’s $150 per hour contract.
Attorneys Angelo J. Genova and James M. Burns each donated $2,000 to the Woodbridge Democrats in 2004, according to ELEC reports.
A request for bids was advertised once at least 20 days prior to the bid opening, Mitch said. The awarded bids were also advertised.
State law requires municipalities to bid out goods and services that exceed $17,500 in aggregate, Mitch said.
But because the township’s purchasing agent, Marianne Horta, is certified as a qualified purchasing agent, Woodbridge is allowed to exceed that cap, Mitch said.
Services exceeding $25,000 must go out to bid. The awarded bidders for legal services were awarded the contracts based on their “experience, reliability and quality of service,” according to contract resolutions.
The council accepted Tamburello’s proposal but no council members have moved on introducing the ordinance.
Tamburello, who submitted a petition containing 47 signatures by local Republicans in support of the initiative, said he would not seek the required 1,800 signatures that would require the council to take official action.
“I’m running for council and I’m going to win and put it on my agenda,” he said.