TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—A new, Independent Township of Washington Council majority appears to hold the cards on the dais, leaving the two Republican members crying foul.
At the town’s annual reorganization meeting Jan. 3, Independents Michael DeSena and Steve Cascio, with running mate Michael Ullman streaming in live, trumped Daisy Velez and Tom Sears on Zoning Board of Adjustment appointments the latter two—and Republican Mayor Peter Calamari—never saw coming.
The tactic appears to be comeuppance for reorganization 2021, during which residents spoke out against a change to the composition of the ZBA: the summary yanking of the body’s chair and a a member. At the time DeSena and Cascio urged their new council colleagues to keep the ZBA intact, especially in light of an ongoing application from Golden Orchards Associates, for a subdivision on the border with Hillsdale.
Cascio had said, “In the middle of an application… they’re already trained. They’ve served the town well in that capacity.”
But new council VP the late Arthur Cumming disagreed: “I think we need a fresh look from some of these people. I think that we do not have a fresh look and the outlook we’re looking for.”
(See Township Council takes flak on ZBA; chairman, member dropped; PB change,” John Snyder, Jan. 7, 2021.)
Also coming: apparent 10% budget cuts on a number of line items, to be hammered out.
Jan. 3, the council unanimously approved Glenn Beckmeyer of Beckmeyer Engineering, for 2024. Calamari said that Boswell Engineering, the immediate past township engineer, would close out the projects it was working on, pursuant to contracts.
Calamari said Beckmeyer would “handle everything new,” including potential work at the former swim club property; and assured a resident that the town is taking waterway condition issues seriously, acting within its ability.
Calamari reports
In his opening remarks, Calamari said in part, “2023 was a busy year: We … received grant money for the purchase of 450 Pascack Road, keeping this important environmental property adjacent to Memorial Field safe from future development. Including this grant, our grant writer secured over $1 million in grants in 2023 alone helping to ensure our small-town way of life.”
He noted the county overhaul of the intersection at Pascack Road and Washington Avenue and the full paving of Pascack Road within the township.
He said the WTPD is on track for accreditation in April; the reconstruction of the commuter parking lot at the emergency services building has begun, and the town is transitioning the health insurance plan for its employees for a large anticipated savings.
Calamari said, “Major tasks we are charged with this year include getting our DPW and Police Department the spaces they need to efficiently and properly perform their duties…”
“We need to look at options to maximize the usage of our existing parks and fields while establishing new uses for the swim club property. I will call a meeting with the members of the Rec Advisory Board this month to review the results of the survey to determine a plan for the best possible use for the swim club property for all to utilize and enjoy.”
The council’s next regular meeting is Jan. 15. For details visit the town website or town hall.
Drama over CFO as heels dig in on budget cuts
Councilmembers wished residents a happy New Year, and Ullman, Velez, and Sears lauded Morgan and Feeney for their service to the township—Ullman, who was voted out in their rise, saying the two had left the town in better shape than they found it.
With DeSena and Cascio restored to the number one and two leadership spots on council, respectively, Ullman quizzing on dollars, cents, and fine print, the majority showed at least an early disinterest in playing nicely.
The night featured what Calamari would later describe as twists and turns—see Letters, page 2— and on Facebook as “repulsive” events.
The town’s part-time CFO, John K. Corcoran, a would-be four-year mayoral appointment with advice and consent of counsel, saw his name shot down, leaving the town without an incumbent for the foreseeable future.
Corcoran was streaming in, a window over from Ullman on WCTV-NJ’s broadcast, presumably to field questions on the proposed temporary budget; but after council voted not to re-engage him, Calamari said Corcoran could not weigh in as he was no longer a township employee.
Sears and Velez opposed Corcoran’s non-reappointment. He stayed on camera for some time, until resident Michael L. Werfel questioned whether the professional was going to be paid for his time at the meeting.
It was unclear why council voted not to reappoint Corcoran though Ullman took issue with more than a dozen change orders during construction of the joint firehouse and ambulance headquarters—whose design and costs he had criticized before being voted off the dais three years ago.
Administrator Mark DiCarlo told Ullman that the change order snafu was “not particularly Mr. Corcoran’s responsibility” and noted that during a project, change orders generally are brought to the administration’s attention, and that a “mess-up” with having them first approved by council was not Corcoran’s fault.
“You have my word on it,” said DiCarlo, vowing the problem would not reoccur.
The reorganizing council eventually voted anew on the appointment, putting Corcoran—anticipating starting his fifth year here—back on a tenure track, when members realized they needed his help to comply with a Cascio initiative holding up adoption of the town’s temporary budget ahead of the annual budget talks.
Cascio insisted on a 10% whack to any budget item not otherwise protected by statute, schedule, or contract negotiation, which the governing body took to calling “discretionary line items” but does not take in only discretionary spending.
The cut was a Cascio campaign pledge.
To this, and with the imminent town payroll depending on passage of the temporary budget, Calamari objected, saying, “I think it’s not a good way to run the town, to blanketly [sic] look to cut every line item, except for the few that we have to pay, by 10%. Each line item was budgeted quite carefully last year, hence the 26% [temporary, stopgap appropriation] this year…”
Later, with the CFO still to be determined, now-required budget cuts apparently depending on professional oversight, and time limited to advertise budget meetings, Calamari asked town attorney Kenneth Poller, “What do we do on the 15th when people do not get their direct deposits?”
Poller replied, “I can’t sit here and tell you what’s going to happen…” He said he’d need time to research mounting questions and come back to the council with answers.
Calamari speculated, “We’ll have to appoint someone, or hire someone, and we have a payroll due on the 15th—I can’t say just how poorly planned this decision was.”
Cascio said, “I don’t want to hold up anyone getting their paycheck. But we do have an obligation to reduce this budget and make it livable for most people. And that’s what I’m going to do. That’s my concern.”
At that, the council brought up a new motion to reintroduce Corcoran’s contract, and discussion turned both to whether this would be a full time or part time hire and to a dust-up over whether it was responsible to discuss a former employee’s job performance in the open without due process.
Calamari said, “To budget for a full-time [CFO] is going to go counter to reducing costs; we can’t find [another] part-time [CFO], they’re even scarcer.”
He added, “Not for nothing: If I were a CFO—this is only my opinion—and I heard the council wanted to make a global 10% cut, I’d run as far away from this job as I could.”
When DeSena moved to approve the temporary budget as is with the confidence that DiCarlo, per his offer, would make 10% cuts in discretionary spending items, Calamari said, “I’d remove that second part. It’s either approved as is or it’s not approved.”
When Corcoran was re-hired (“to a term proscribed by law,” the details of which the governing body recessed to suss out), 4-1, Cascio voting no, the mayor was asked whether they should get him back on the meeting.
Calamari said, “He’s been insulted enough tonight. I’m not going to get him back on.”
The temporary budget appropriation, approximately 26% of 2024’s anticipated expenditures, totaled $3,490,110.95, according to Resolution 24-115. The total temp budget was given as $4,173,466.38 that added in excluded items for $683,355.43.
The council then voted to establish a temporary budget appropriation, 4-1, with Ullman voting no.
Following the meeting, Calamari commented to Pascack Press about previous council votes, including Cascio, moving on some significant (and in his view, necessary) $14 million in capital spending and Cascio now looking for cuts to, rhetorically, allotments of photocopy paper.
All of this followed an effective line drawn in the sand, with a run of council-minority-vetted appointments on the powerful ZBA shot down and DeSena prevailing on surprise candidates.
Calamari protested: “Mike, even though it’s a council appointment, I didn’t get [this candidate’s] interest in my packet, or anything like that, or a resume. How do we know he’s even interested?”
DeSena: “He reached out to… I was sent a text that he was interested.”
Calamari: “OK. Don’t you think the other councilmembers should have known ahead of time that he was interested? That’s why we make it available on the website: to decide about it.”
DeSena: “It’s a council decision that was made, Mr. Mayor.”
Calamari: “So someone can reach out to one councilmember and not submit a resume, and just get passed?”
Velez: “I agree with the mayor. I didn’t even see [the candidate] as an option, to review any of his qualifications—”
DeSena. “OK.”
Velez: “—to vote one way or the other.”
DeSena continued with the agenda. When yet another name came up that wasn’t in the council packet, and Velez questioned the process, Cascio said, “That was me.”
Calamari lamented, “Get used to it, Daisy.”
Cascio added, “It’s tough being on the other side.”
Velez: “It’s not about being on a side; it’s about being correct.”
Cascio: “That’s right.”
Velez: “—And if the information isn’t available to us, how are we supposed to make an educated vote?”
After a pause, DeSena called for a roll-call vote on the appointment, which passed, 3-2.
MAYOR APPOINTMENTS with consent of council
CFO John K. Corcoran; alternate municipal judge Hon. Richard Brady; Library Board trustees Mary Ellen Stickel and Fred Voss; and fire official Thomas Derienzo Jr.
No resolution required
Planning Board Member, Class II Vladimir Wojno-Oranski and Class IV Bill Carroll; Rec Advisory Board members Tim Ritter and Christopher Santise; recycling coordinators Dina Tarabocchia and Daryl Esoldi; risk management consultant Vic Fadini Insurance, Vic Fadini, representative; Advisory Board of Health Dan Scudieri and Bob Stickel; Library Board trustee-mayor’s alternate Joanne Grecco; and fire inspector Joe Caporale.
Other
- Bonding Attorney Robert Beinfield, Esq.-Hawkins, Delafield & Wood, LLP
- Township Engineer Glenn Beckmeyer, P.E. Beckmeyer Engineering P.C.
- Special Labor Counsel Raymond Wiss, Esq-Wiss & Bouregy, P.C.
- Township Planner Joe Burgis, Burgis and Associates, Inc.
- Municipal Prosecutor Mark DiMaria, Esq.
- Alternate Municipal Prosecutor Christine Carey Lilore, Esq.
WTFD Officers
Chief Zachary Miros, Deputy Chief Frank Aiello, Battalion Chief Christopher Campo, Capt. Chris Meier, 1Lt. Tie Stutzer, 2Lt. Scott Meier, 3Lt. Kevin Zitko.
WTVAC Officers
President Eugene Greco, Capt. Rich Miras, and lieutenants Bob Ehlers and Bob Rayve.
— With some reporting by Michael Olohan