RESIGNATIONS

At the January 4, 2022 meeting, Committeeman Robert C. Sunbury became the latest township committee member to resign. He’s the third one to resign in the last two years. He’s the second committee member elected in 2020 to resign. Nancy McGinnis is the other. The quickest resignation was Mathew Baals, who took office on January 3, 2022 and resigned after only three (3) weeks on the job!

Committee Member Resignations

Here’s the list of recent Tabernacle Committee resignations: 

• Robert Sunbury: sworn in on January 2, 2020, resigned January 4, 2023.
• Nancy McGinnis. sworn in on January 2,  2020, last township meeting October 24, 2022.
• Matthew Baals, sworn in on January 3, 2022, resigned January 24, 2022. 

Staff Resignations

Let’s also not forget the resignations of Tabernacle’s recent Clerk Everett Falt and recent Administrator, Casey English, who also resigned soon after they took office. Here’s that list.

• Casey English: hired November 8, 2021; resigned April 25, 2022.
• Everett Falt: hired November 8, 2021;  resigned June 30, 2022. 

Remembering Committeeman Robert Sunbury: The Public Safety Building

One of Committeeman Sunbury’s finest moments came when he revealed that the closed session discussion of a building incorrectly called the “Public Safety Building” was really a discussion about the old TRS building on Hawkin Road.  

The incorrect reference to the “Public Safety Building” was stated in the committee’s official minutes and approved by them. I know that there is no building called the Public Safety Building. The committee should know this too. But they just didn’t care to get it right.   

For months my husband and I asked for the official minutes to be clarified and corrected. Mayor Sammy Moore, Public Information Officer/Township Attorney William Burns, Township Clerk Maryalice Brown and the rest of the committee did nothing and said nothing

Their stubbornness and foolishness created an ongoing circus. Committeeman Sunbury got tired of the circus and finally spilled the beans that they were talking about the old TRS building on Hawkin Road. The committee still hasn’t corrected its official minutes. Like I said, stubborn; foolish; and just doesn’t care to be truthful.  

As of this writing, the committee only has four members like it did with all of the other resignations.  

DECEIT

There comes a point where errors happen so often and without correction, that it’s hard to regard them as ordinary mistakes and easy to see that committee members just don’t care about giving correct information. 

Examples of Deceit

The committee’s perverse refusal to correct a mistake in their own official minutes regarding the non-existent Public Safety Building, is just one example.  Here are a few more recent quickies. 

Ending Time of Town Hall Public Information Meeting

At the December 19, 2022 Public Information Meeting for the new town hall, Clerk-Administrator Maryalice Brown said the meeting had to close at 8:30PM because of the township’s contract with the Lenape District for the use of their auditorium at Seneca.  

That’s false. The township’s contract with the Lenape District allowed Tabernacle to use the building until 9:00PM.   

I expect Administrator-Clerk Brown to walk her statement back and say “ Yes, the contract says 9 PM, but ………….”  “Yes…But…” is just a way of excusing misinformation. The contract is clear; 9 PM means 9 PM. Just be honest about what it says and carry on from there. 

Public Health Emergency and Tabernacle’s Exclusive Virtual Public Meetings

At the January 4, 2023 Reorganization meeting, the committee adopted Resolution 2023-18. It sets the official meeting dates and establishes that meetings will be virtual meetings, not in-person meetings. The Resolution says that the reason for virtual meetings is Governor Murphy’s declaration of a Public Health Emergency and a State of Emergency. 

The committee’s reliance on Governor Murphy’s declarations for virtual meetings is utter nonsense and malarkey. Governor Murphy ended the public health emergency in March 2022. While the State of Emergency continues, it has nothing to do with virtual meetings.

Non-Existent Public Health Emergency

Governor Murphy declared a Public Health Emergency March 9, 2022 through Executive Order 103. The Governor terminated the public health emergency March 7, 2022 through Executive Order 292. There is no longer a requirement that township meetings have to be virtual. Most other townships have had live meetings for months. Tabernacle’s Land Development Board has live meetings, too, at the Emergency Services Building. If live public meetings are good for the LDB, then they’re also good for the township committee.

State of Emergency

As for the State of Emergency, it still exists. But it has nothing to do with virtual meetings. It exists to ensure federal funding. Here’s what the New Jersey Department of Health said in its press release of March 4, 2022. 

The State of Emergency declared in EO No. 103 will remain in place to ensure that the State continues to have necessary resources as COVID-19 is managed on an endemic level. It is common practice for states of emergency for major crises to remain in place to allow the State to receive and distribute federal funding without any unnecessary red tape or bureaucratic obstacles, as exemplified by Governor Christie’s State of Emergency declaration for Superstorm Sandy, which remains in effect to this day.

The committee didn’t have virtual meetings for Superstorm Sandy. It doesn’t need more virtual meetings for Covid 19. Our committee just doesn’t want live meetings and is deceitful about it.

Adequate Notice for the Town Hall Informational Meeting

At the beginning of the December 19, 2022 Public Information Meeting, as at all public meetings, Clerk Maryalice Brown read the Sunshine Notice. In a Sunshine Notice, the clerk formally says that she gave the public the required “adequate” notice of the time, date, location and agenda of the meeting. Public meetings can’t be held if ”adequate” public notice hasn’t been given.

The reason for “adequate” public notice is to prevent townships from doing business in secret. It’s called a Sunshine Notice because of an often quoted U.S. Supreme Court decision to the effect that “Sunlight [transparency] is said to be the best of disinfectant [for unaccountable government].” 

Clerk Brown misled the public when she said that she gave the public adequate notice of the Monday December 19, 2022 meeting.

Adequate” Notice has Two Parts 

First, the township clerk has to instruct two newspapers to publish notice of the meeting at least 48 hours before the meeting. Second, both newspapers must have the ability to publish the notice at least 48 hours in advance.

Clerk Brown got both parts wrong. First, she only contacted one newspaper, the Burlington County Times, not two. 

Second, the BCT had no ability to publish the notice at least 48 hours before the Monday meeting. That’s because the BCT doesn’t publish on Saturdays and Clerk Brown’s instructions were sent to the BCT so late on Thursday, December 15 (at 4:15 PM), that publication on Friday was impossible.

Instead, the BCT published the notice on Sunday, December 18, the day before the meeting and only 24 hours in advance of it. That’s not “adequate” notice.

Every clerk for every township, public board, agency and authority in New Jersey is expected to know how to give adequate public notice of meetings. It’s a fundamental part of a clerk’s job and required by the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA). Township Clerk Maryalice Brown has been a registered municipal clerk for at least 20 years and has to know how to do this.

We pay her a premium salary, $132,000 annually, for a part-time job. Her inability to get the basic notice requirements right shouldn’t be acceptable to the township committee.

What’s Worse?

I was told that Clerk Maryalice Brown said that Township Attorney William Burns told her that the notice was okay. If that conversation actually happened, I don’t know what’s worse: a 20-year tenured clerk that still doesn’t know New Jersey’s notice requirements; a township attorney that still doesn’t know New Jersey’s notice requirements; or a township clerk and a township attorney don’t care about New Jersey’s notice requirements.   

By the way, we pay Township Attorney William Burns $165.00 per hour for his professional services. 

SILENCE

At the January 4, 2023 Reorganization meeting, the township reappointed William Burns as its township attorney and Public Information Officer. 

At public comment, Stuart Brooks called for more transparency, more public discussion by the committee and for a policy for the committee to respond to public comments. Currently, the committee has almost no public discussions and hardly ever responds to public comment.  

Mr. Brooks said: “Your job is serious enough that you have to swear an oath in public to do it. If you can’t think and speak for yourselves, maybe this isn’t the job for you; and maybe you should give back the raise you gave yourselves.” Committee members now earn $7,500 annually.

He also asked about the status of the township’s acquisition of the property at 144 Carranza Road, which was supposed to happen by the end of December. 

The members of the committee were silent, as they always are. Attorney Burns, the Public Information Officer, was also silent, as he always is. Sometimes silence is golden; but not when it’s your government.