Committee Meeting Cancelled, Again

Sammy Moore and Mark Hartman were absent from the May 28, 2024 committee meeting. Their absence prevented a quorum and required the cancellation of the meeting. Hartman called in so late that the Fire House was already full of residents who were finding seats and waiting for the meeting to start.

The Open Public Meetings Act requires 48-hour notice of cancellation, unless there’s an emergency. Mark Hartman’s excuse that he was in a meeting does not constitute an emergency. He could have participated remotely. The cancellation was a violation of the law.

The May 28, meeting was important. The committee was ready to replace Deputy Mayor Natalie Stone who resigned on May 9, 2024. It was also going to introduce the 2025 budget which, by law, had to be introduced by March 29. That was two months ago.

Hartman’s absence wasted our time and money. The township engineer and township attorney were there. They’ll get paid even though the meeting was cancelled.

The meeting also required publication of notice because it was a “special meeting.” It replaced the May 20, meeting, which was cancelled because Attorney Burns couldn’t attend and he said that no one in his firm could handle the meeting. Publication of all of those special meeting notices incurs fees.

 A third special meeting has now been scheduled to fill Natalie Stone’s vacated seat. It’s on Friday, June 7, at 6:30 pm at the Fire House. Publication fees for that meeting, plus additional professional fees, plus any overtime for township staff, will also have to be paid.

This isn’t the first time that Hartman didn’t show up and spoiled a quorum. He didn’t attend the March 11, 2024 meeting. That was the deadline set by Construction Officer Tom Boyd for the committee to act on Historic Town Hall. It was the opportunity for the committee to reconsider its prior decision to demolish the building.

Reconsideration didn’t happen. Litigation to save Historic Town Hall ensued. Tabernacle Road was closed, reopened and closed again.

This is awful behavior. It’s illegal to intentionally spoil a quorum, if that actually happened here.  Smith v. Ghigliotty, 219 N.J. Super 231 (Law 1987). See also Kossyk v. Light, 157 N.J. Super 338 (App Div 1977).

Mark Hartman and Sammy Moore Shouldn’t Be Re-Elected

Do I need to say that a committeeman who doesn’t show up when they find themselves on the short end of an important vote is a terrible candidate? Tabernacle needs better leadership.

Mayor Hartman also shows the same bad judgment as Natalie Stone in his social media posts. They are totally unbecoming to an elected official.

One of his posts shows a skeleton of a woman pole dancer with a sign that says “tips.” Pole dancing has been and continues to be associated with strippers and the exploitation of women.

Another social media post has a picture of him, and I guess his wife, behind bars and a separate picture of children behind bars. The text says: “Arrested by the FBI? Mark and Jason were arrested after breaking into the office to watch porn. Sentence: 3 days in jail!”

These issues alone show that Mark Hartman is unworthy of another term. 

He’s doubly unworthy when you consider his bad policy decisions. Remember the “Hartman Rule” that limited public comment to two minutes because he said that residents don’t have anything more to say.

Hartman and Sammy Moore should be called to account for making Natalie Stone Deputy Mayor and following her in lockstep.

Stone had no experience and no idea what she was doing. I cringed when she asked if anything important happened at workshop meetings. She had a lot of cringeworthy moments.

Most notoriously, she spearheaded the effort to demolish Historic Town Hall. Again, Hartman and Moore followed her like poodles on a leash. (Editor’s Note: No disrespect to poodles intended.)

Then there’s their fixation on spending $10 to $12 million dollars on a new municipal complex before thoroughly considering other options. In the process, they completely ignored Tabernacle’s 2023 Master Plan.

Hartman and Moore, have totally squandered the community’s support (not to speak of a lot of tax money).  Even the Republican Party isn’t supporting their re-election bid – and they’re the incumbents! 

Dump Moore and Hartman!

Mark Hartman Should Step Down As Mayor Immediately

Mark Hartman should no longer be allowed to direct the committee’s agenda or work with Clerk/Administrator Brown in a leadership position, as mayors do in Tabernacle.  He should voluntarily resign as mayor or be replaced as soon as possible.

Hartman’s administration as mayor has been terrible. Not only does he not show up for meetings, thereby spoiling quorums, he’s not working with Clerk/Administrator Brown to serve Tabernacle effectively or efficiently.

He has allowed Clerk/Administrator Mary Alice Brown (and other professionals) to provide the most minimal service to Tabernacle. They are running amok. Yet, Brown earns $132,000 annually.

The annual budget, which should be routine, is late, again. It should’ve been introduced by March 29, 2024.

Brown won’t post her Tabernacle office hours for Tabernacle residents. Though she posts her Woodland office hours to help Woodland residents. This issue has been raised many times but there’s been no change.

Mayor Hartman allowed Clerk Brown to be Sammy Moore’s (his running mate) personal secretary. She’s Tabernacle’s chief election official. She’s supposed to be non-partisan. Clerk Brown filled out Sammy Moore’s election petition. She had to fill his address for him. She even put it on a Woodland petition instead of a Tabernacle petition.

Tabernacle’s web page for the municipal complex still shows all three concept plans that were considered. Residents are left to guess which plan the committee selected. This has been mentioned at least four times and by different people. Mayor Hartman still hasn’t had Clerk Brown fix this.

When the committee considered Woodland’s shared services request for equipment. Ms. Brown said “we need this,” meaning Woodland needs it. “We” are Tabernacle. And at that moment, Brown was working for Tabernacle. She rarely knows which township she’s in.

Mayor Hartman hasn’t bothered to make sure that the township committee is doing any cost-benefit analysis on the many shared service agreements that they adopt. The committee does all this work in closed session but when it comes out, the mayor is never able to fully explain how these contracts benefit Tabernacle residents.

If Hartman won’t step down voluntarily, he should be replaced as soon as Natalie Stone’s replacement is seated.