Councilman miffed over memo flap

BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

Eatontown Borough Councilman John J. Collins claims that he wasn’t informed of changes in council appointments as other council members were, and he voiced his displeasure at the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting.

According to Collins, he did not get a confidential memo sent by Mayor Gerald Tarantolo about the reassigning of three of his council colleagues to new committees for 2005 until just before Christmas Day, about three weeks after it was supposedly sent out.

In fact, it was only when a reporter contacted Collins, one of only two Republicans on the six-member council, for comment on the changes proposed by the Democratic mayor, that the councilman learned anything about Tarantolo’s plans, he said.

Feeling left out of the loop by Tarantolo, Collins fought back by abstaining when his name was called during the vote on the three appointments that were made official during Saturday’s reorganization meeting.

“These changes were made without benefit of my input and without the courtesy of direct communication,” Collins said in a written statement issued during the meeting. “Therefore, these changes can proceed without the benefit of my support. I abstain.”

Despite Collins’ lack of participation, the three appointments were filled as expected, with the council naming Council President Theodore F. Lewis as finance chairman, Councilwoman Joyce Englehart as fire commissioner, and Councilman Roy Eisen as director of recreation.

Lewis, a Democrat and the council’s most senior member, who most recently served as fire commissioner, takes over the finance post from Eisen, a Republican, who only held that assignment since late October when he was first sworn in to his council seat.

In turn, Eisen takes over as director of recreation, a position held up until last month by Englehart, a Democrat.

On Tarantolo’s recommendation and with the council’s blessing, Englehart now succeeds Lewis as fire commissioner.

Recently re-elected Democrats Lewis and Englehart were sworn in to new three-year terms prior to any discussion or vote about the switching of assignments. Lewis, now entering his 10th consecutive term, returns for his 17th year as president. Englehart is beginning her third term.

In his statement, Collins stressed that it is not the qualifications of Lewis, Englehart or Eisen that he questions. It is the manner in which Tarantolo handled the appointments.

Collins stated that he did not receive a copy of Tarantolo’s memo until “a few days before” Dec. 25, about three weeks after he was contacted by a local newspaper to comment on the mayor’s recommendations.

In fact, Collins did not think that the mayor’s memo was official correspondence at all by the time he received it.

“I thought it was a Christmas card,” Collins said Tuesday.

Upon opening the correspondence, Collins found the mayor’s memorandum dated much earlier in December, detailing the new assignments of Lewis, Englehart and Eisen.

Given that a local reporter knew about the proposed changes before he did, Collins speculated that Tarantolo had contacted the press before sharing the information with him.

“I thought maybe [Tarantolo] held a press conference,” Collins said.

In his written statement, Collins elaborated more about feeling uninformed.

“I’d like to think that not informing me before going public was an oversight by the mayor,” Collins wrote in his statement. “But in my more pessimistic moments, I suspect it was simply because I am in the political minority on the council. Whatever.”

Tarantolo, however, emphasized that only council members, including Collins, were privy to the confidential memorandum listing the changes in assignments.

As for any press conference related to the change in assignments, that did not happen, Tarantolo said.

“The memo was designated as confidential and only the council members should have received it,” Tarantolo said after the re-organization meeting.

Only another council member could have leaked the memo’s contents to the press, given its confidential nature, Tarantolo went on.

“If the information appeared in the newspaper first, it must have been some member of the council who shared it,” the mayor said.

Specifically, Collins questioned Tarantolo’s decision to replace Eisen, who is a certified public accountant, as finance chairman, with Lewis.

The decision seems somewhat political, he noted.

“I think Roy would be better at finance,” Collins said. “But I’m a realist. I’m in a political minority.”

“I think it is pretty silly to have a CPA up there and not have him in finance,” he added.

Such is not the case, Tarantolo countered, as he did assign Eisen to serve on the finance committee under Lewis’ chairmanship.

As for the switch, Tarantolo explained that Lewis had asked him late last year if he could head up the finance committee.

Given Lewis’ senior status, Tarantolo agreed.

“Teddy wanted to make a change [in assignment],” Tarantolo said. “Because he is the senior member, he appeared to want to be in charge of finance.”

Before sending out his memo, Tarantolo advised Eisen of the possible change.

“I spoke to Roy. I gave him a draft of the memo,” Tarantolo said. “He indicated he was a bit surprised.”

Nonetheless, Eisen seemed to accept the change, he added.

Having an accounting background is helpful, but not essential to serving as finance chairman, Tarantolo pointed out.

The municipal budget is made up by the borough’s hired professionals as well as auditors, department heads and the town business administrator, not anyone on the finance committee, although those members are allowed to give input, Tarantolo explained.

In the end, all of the council members are allowed to participate in the budget process,” the mayor concluded.

“The budget is done collectively by the council,” he said.

Despite their disagreement, both Collins and Tarantolo expressed a wish to put the memo incident behind them and work for the benefit of borough residents.

“It’s much ado about nothing,” Tarantolo said. “It’s just a little political wrangling.”

“The people elected Mayor Tarantolo and me on the same day in 2002 by a sizable margin,” Collins said. “The people want us to work together.”

Besides Lewis and Eisen, Councilwoman Geraldine Hopkins was also named to the finance committee. All three were also appointed to the ordinance committee.

Englehart will chair both the fire commission and water committee, with Lewis and Eisen serving on the two bodies as well.

Besides the recreation committee, Eisen will also oversee the parking committee, joined by Hopkins and Borough Councilman Charles DaVis.

In addition, DaVis will chair the fire, public lights, and tenants’ rights committees, with Lewis and Collins serving as members of all three.

Collins was appointed chair of the public buildings and insurance committees, with Englehart and DaVis serving on those bodies.

Hopkins will chair the public works and welfare committees, with both Collins and Englehart serving under her leadership.

All of the committee appointments are one-year terms.

Lewis was also named to a one-year term on the borough’s Planning Board. Residents Rudolph Trask and Darvel Stutz were appointed to one-year and four-year terms, respectively.

Lastly, residents Richard Hoppenstedt and Joseph Picard Jr. were named to four-year terms on the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Vincent Marrone was appointed as an alternate member for two years.