On second thought, the Hoboken City Council has decided to give George Ortiz, a politically-active “management specialist” for City Hall, a six-month unpaid leave of absence after all.
Initially, at the Feb. 6 meeting of the Hoboken City Council, the nine-member board denied Ortiz’s request for a second six-month leave of absence from his job to attend Seton Hall University’s law school.
What made the issue more than just a routine personnel decision was that Ortiz was an ardent supporter of former Mayor Anthony Russo, who opposed Mayor David Roberts in the May mayoral election. Ortiz also was the campaign manager for two victorious Russo Board of Education slates.
Roberts’ camp went on the record last year accusing Ortiz of authoring slanderous “midnight” flyers that appeared in the city’s 4th Ward just days before the May election. Ortiz denied the charges that he wrote and distributed the literature.
Ortiz and current Human Services Director Carmelo Garcia also have been at odds politically and personally after Ortiz publicly accused Garcia of harassing him last year. But charges were never filed in the case.
The City Council has had a change of heart since denying Ortiz’s leave.
At the March 6 City Council meeting, after discussing the issue in an extended 45-minute closed session, and on the advice of the City’s Corporation Counsel Esther Suarez and city Business Administration Laurie Cotter, the council voted unanimously to pass a resolution to give Ortiz the furlough.
There are some who believe that the original denial was nothing more than personal politics.
“Your personal preference should be left at the door,” said Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, who is Russo’s cousin and the City Council’s most vocal critic of the administration. Castellano, along with Councilman Richard DelBoccio, supported the original resolution to give Ortiz the leave.
“Legally we have to grant him the leave, but because of his political history and affiliations, personal feelings became more important than doing the right thing,” said Castellano.
After learning that the council originally denied his leave, Ortiz called the vote “discretionary, capricious and arbitrary” and threatened legal action.
“What they did was discriminatory and nothing more than retribution for who I am,” said Ortiz Thursday morning. According to Ortiz, he did file a legal action against the city.
But according to the city’s top attorney, Suarez, no litigation was ever filed and the council’s decision to change its mind was solely based on her and Cotter’s recommendation.
“The city’s collective bargaining allows up to a six-month leave of absence, and the NJ Administrative Code allows for up to a one-year leave,” said Suarez Thursday. “What we want to do is maintain a consistent policy for all employees. We are simply complying with the city’s code and state law. I don’t think that some members of the council were fully aware of these regulations the first time they voted on the matter.”
City Council President Tony Soares denied Thursday that Ortiz’s case was personal. “This was never about his personality,” said Soares. “Originally, I felt there was no rationale behind giving indefinite leaves of absence. At the time I was unaware that there were provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that provided for temporary leave of absences. We were advised by the city’s corporation counsel and acted accordingly.”
While he is content with the outcome, Ortiz is still distressed about how the whole situation was handled.
“I wouldn’t say it ended amicably,” said Ortiz. “But they were able to avoid further litigation. They know according to state and federal law I was wronged and that I had valid legal grounds to take action against the city.
They recognized that they were looking at lengthy and costly litigation and decided to revisit the issue.”
School board dropout
On the Monday before the council voted to extend Ortiz’s leave of absence, he dropped out of the Board of Education election that is scheduled for April 16.
Ortiz would have been stiff competition against Mayor Roberts’ ticket for one of the three available spots on the board.
“With going to law school I just don’t feel like I would be able to give 110 percent,” said Ortiz. “Right now I have too many academic responsibilities to allow adequate time to do the work that is required for the type of campaign that I would want to run.”
The suspicious timing of his departure from the race has led some to believe there is a connection between his withdrawing from election consideration and the City Council’s change of heart.
Both Ortiz and members of the City Council categorically deny that there is any relationship.
“I hadn’t heard prior to voting that he had withdrawn his name,” said Councilman Christopher Campos. “I take umbrage to anyone who says that one has anything to do with the other.”
Ortiz also said Thursday that there was no correlation between the two. “There is absolutely no connection,” said Ortiz. “There’s no way that [the council] would go into to closed session to discuss it for 45 minutes if a deal had already been made.”