Town Administrator Anthony Iacono has issued a formal request to the state Department of Education to investigate the “actions and conduct” of Board of Education member George Heflich after months of clashes at Town Council meetings, and after years of political clashes between the two.
The request occurred after Heflich, independent of his school duties, had questioned the safety of a band shell that is being constructed at Buchmiller Park. Heflich is a former fire official. Iacono and Elwell apparently were not happy about Heflich’s questions. So they said that he should have been paying attention to the fact that a recent high school “haunted house” was slated to be held in a facility that didn’t have the right distance to fire exits.
However, Superintendent of Schools Constantino Scerbo responded last week that it’s not the Board of Education’s job to get involved in such day-to-day operations like the haunted house.
‘Reckless’
Nevertheless, Iacono wrote in his Oct. 30 letter to the state, “I feel compelled to bring to your attention the actions and conduct of Mr. George Heflich. As the town administrator and as the parent of a child in our school system, I believe Mr. Heflich has recklessly put the safety of the Secaucus children at risk.”
Iacono’s letter went on to say, “on numerous occasions, Mr. Heflich has publicly referred to his experience as a former fire official with 30 years’ experience and has attempted to cite violations that pertain to construction and fire codes in the town of Secaucus. On a routine basis, he not only takes it upon himself to inspect the quality of the construction of buildings and facilities in Secaucus, but has provided photos to the press of what he feels are deficiencies.”
And yet, according to Iacono, Heflich seems to have a different standard of responsibilities as it pertains to the Secaucus School District.
“Most recently, a Halloween event was planned by the school district in a building that did not meet the stare requirements for its use,” Iacono said in his complaint. “The Board of Education sought to hold a Halloween haunted house in a facility without sprinklers or other fire suppression devices and without proper emergency exists. This event could have put hundreds of Secaucus schoolchildren in danger. The town’s construction code official refused to license or allow the haunted house to safeguard our children. The town stopped the haunted house. When Mr. Heflich was asked, as a school trustee, why he did not intervene in this matter, his reply was that it was not his responsibility.”
Iacono called this response “unacceptable and negligent,” and asked the state to investigate with the possible aim of removing Heflich from the school board.
Heflich, in a written response to the complaint, said Iacono was attempting to “defer building code violations in Buchmuller Park by embarking on a calculated attack” on Heflich, and he called Iacono’s complaint “complete nonsense.”
“This successful Halloween event for our children has been going on for over 10 years,” he said, adding that the building inspector had rectified the problem by advising the high school principal, and that the principal had made arrangements to move the haunted house festivities back to the high school.
“Mr. Iacono is obviously unaware of the procedures and operation of the school system,” Heflich wrote. “The Board of Education is to set policy, not the day-to-day operations and functions of the school system.”
Clash at council
Iacono’s complaint comes after a heated exchange at the Oct. 28 Town Council meeting between Heflich and Mayor Dennis Elwell, during which Elwell told Heflich to mind his own business as school trustee.
Heflich, formerly the town fire official, has continued a many-months campaign against the town for alleged violations of building codes during the construction of the band shell at Buchmuller Park.
The back-and-forth dispute has centered on allegations that the park’s reconstruction had not been properly done, with cracks in the concrete, untreated wood construction on an outdoor amphitheater, and a double door that opens onto a stairway.
The project, which began last year, was apparently rushed to completion without a certificate of occupancy, so that the town could use the facility to hold its summer concert series.
Heflich has not only raised the questions about the construction, but continued to question whether or not the town had violated state building codes.
In responding to these attacks, Elwell insisted that the town was within the law and that under guidelines recently established by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, inspections of the work were to be done by the town’s Director of Inspection, Vinnie Prieto.
Prieto said Buchmuller Park was in compliance with the law, although no certificate of occupancy had yet been issued when it opened. He reported to the council that the facility was operating under a temporary certificate that allowed public events to take place while the town pursued repairs from the contractor.
Heflich is not alone in attacking the Buchmuller Park project. Earlier this year, Councilman John Bueckner raised questions about the lack contracts for architectural designs for park project as well as other projects, and speculated as to whether or not the project was necessary.
Contracts were eventually issued to the architect John Capazzi for Buchmuller, the 9/11 memorial and the library, under a professional services provision in state law. This means that town did not have to seek proposals for other qualified architects for these projects in awarding the contracts.
Not my job?
Heflich and fellow board member Tom Troyer have joined Bueckner in questioning whether or not the town got the most for its buck in building the facility and whether or not it was properly supervised and inspected.
An outraged Elwell told Heflich he ought to be minding his own business, and noted that Prieto had closed down the haunted house. He criticized Heflich for not doing his job at a board member.
“You’re so concerned with Buchmuller Park, but you’re not aware of safety problems that affect students you’re in charge of,” Elwell scolded.
Troyer, at the Oct. 30 Board of Education meeting, meeting grilled the superintendent of schools over what happened.
Apparently, one of the clubs at the high school had proposed moving the haunted house from the high school gym to the Hudson Manor Nursing Home for a pre-Halloween event. While Elwell claimed the project was closed down because of non-fire retardant materials, Schools Superintendent Constantino Scerbo said the matter had to do with the distance to various fire exits.
“The doors were too far away from each other,” Scerbo said. “So we moved the haunted house back to the high school.”
Scerbo also noted that board members are rarely made aware of projects of this kind since these are part of the everyday operations of the school, not something that has to be voted on by the board.
Troyer charged the mayor was diverting attention away from the real issue concerning safety of the Buchmuller Park pavilion and questions concerning inspections there. But Elwell countered that he was merely pointing out the fact that Heflich and Troyer were so busy finding flaws in town’s work that the two board members missed a safety issue at the schools.
“They should be paying more attention to the job the voters elected them to do,” Elwell said.