At Monday’s SMUA meeting, the commissioners voted to hire an independent auditor – a move for which newly-elected mayor Dennis Elwell has pushed for years – and filled the vacated post of legal counsel. While the SMUA voted to continue the services of Bill Katchin as its auditor at $15,000 a year, $5,000 less than last year, the commissioners also voted to hire Republican Paul Garbarini of Carlstadt, an apparent gesture to Mayor Elwell, who for years has criticized the lack of an additional auditing professional. In the early 1990s, Katchin served as the SMUA’s bookkeeper and auditor, although protests shifted all of the bookkeeping duties to the SMUA’s executive director, Brian Bigler. To avoid conflict, the SMUA restricted Katchin’s duties, leaving the SMUA with no one to consult on day-to-day bookkeeping issues. “This will allow us an additional level of protection,” Iacono said. “And because several professionals have agreed to take less money this year, this move will not cost us any additional funds.” In a significant move, the SMUA also hired Michael DeCotiis, of DeCotiis Fitzpatrick & Gluck in Teaneck, as its legal counsel, replacing Frank Leanza, who last month moved from the SMUA to become town attorney. DeCotiis Fitzpatrick & Gluck were listed among the top five legal donors to the state-level political parties in 1997 with contributions exceeding $60,000 for the year, and a history of similar contributions going back to the early 1990s. Records show the firm spread its wealth pretty much equally between the two major political parties. Among the firm’s clients is the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway Corporation, whom the firm defended against the Village of Ridgefield Park when residents there claimed idling trains were impinging on residential neighborhoods. This may cause a conflict in town, as earlier this year, the town of Secaucus ticketed trains operated by the same company for idling trains near Harmon Cove. According to the Rutgers School of Law in New Brunswick, one of the firm’s areas of expertise is the privatization of utilities. Last year, the firm unsuccessfully defended the City of Elizabeth in its attempt to put a privatization referendum on the ballot. The firm was also responsible for the privatization of Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus. In 1995, Ricco claimed that then-mayoral candidate Elwell wanted to privatize the SMUA in order to rid the town of its $34 million debt, but that this also would result in increased sewerage fees to homeowners. Troyer believes the latest moves on the SMUA are designed with the authority’s eventual sale in mind. “I believe the SMUA will pay off [former SMUA engineer Joe] Lynch and then privatize,” Troyer said. “That will close the books on the case, and still give the town a profit by removing a huge debt.” Elwell, however, said the sale of the sewerage authority is “not on the table” but conceded that the town has received offers over the last few years. “I’m not saying that it might not be an issue for the future, but that’s not the reason this particular legal firm was hired,” Elwell said. “Whatever we do has to be in the best interest of the people of Secaucus, or we won’t do it.”