Alicia Morejon, the campaign manager for Union City Mayor Brian Stack’s recent municipal campaign, was sworn in as a member of the city’s Board of Education last week despite a recent inquiry regarding her residency.
Although board attorney Herb Klitzner said that he had determined that Morejon has filled the one-year residency requirement for board members, proof of Morejon’s residency prior to September 2001 was never given to The Reporter.
County Superintendent of Schools Robert Osak, who had launched an investigation after receiving tips that Morejon had not lived in the city for a year, said that he received a letter from Klitzner explaining that Morejon had, indeed, been living in Union City for the full year.
However, Barry Fishman, the building manager for 1013 Palisade Ave., Morejon’s current address, said that he believed that Morejon did not live in Union City prior to moving into his building in September.
“I believe she was moving in not from Union City,” said Fishman over the phone last week.
However, Fishman would not disclose any information regarding the prior address listed on her rental application.
According to Morejon’s current Rental Preservation Allowance Statement, Alicia has only been living at 1013 Palisade Ave. since September 2001, five-months short of the one year requirement.
A Rental Unit Preservation Allowance Statement is given to a landlord after repairs are done on a vacant apartment, so that when a new tenant moves in, the apartment can come off rent control. In order for the landlord to obtain this statement, the apartment had to have been previously vacant, and a new tenant has to be moving in.
But according to Stack, Morejon had been living on 38th Street in Union City before moving to her current Palisade Avenue address. However, there was still no evidence of the other address as of press time. Even though Klitzner agreed that rental information is public record, he was not able to provide a copy of her expired lease on 38th Street.
When The Reporterhad asked Morejon for residency information, Morejon refused to provide the information, saying that she had already forwarded it to Klitzner.
“I have forwarded my information to the lawyer and whoever I needed to,” said Morejon earlier this month. Anonymous sources told the reporter through phone calls and e-mails that Morejon still has a Ridgefield address. However, The Reporter has found no evidence that Morejon still lives in Ridgefield. She is not registered to vote there. She registered to vote in Union City only last month.
“I owned a house in Ridgefield many years ago,” said Morejon, whose daughter is also named Alicia.
Earlier this month, Klitzner sent a letter to Osak explaining that he had found no evidence that Morejon had lived outside of Union City.
“This was really a tempest in a teapot,” said Klitzner after reviewing Morejon’s residency information. “There was never any evidence that she had lived anywhere other than Union City.”
Stack said that he threw his copy of Morejon’s residency information away after Morejon was sworn in last week.
– Christine Nardone