Just when it looked like the Town Council and its attorneys were on the verge of a solution to the alleged conflict of interest matter involving Councilman Michael Gonnelli, that solution has been taken off the table.
The council is now prepared to go to court to have a Hudson County Superior Court judge decide whether Gonnelli can continue to serve as both a councilman and deputy chief in the Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department. Gonnelli had been scheduled to become chief of the fire department on Jan. 1.
At its meeting on Tuesday, the council passed a resolution that will allow the town’s labor attorney to “commence…a civil action to determine the compatibility of the offices of Secaucus Councilperson and Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department Chief and the rights obligations, duties, and liabilities of Michael Gonnelli’s holding such offices simultaneously.”
This development comes just weeks after a different proposed solution to the matter fell through.
Since Gonnelli is a political foe of Mayor Dennis Elwell and may face him for mayor in November, his allies are asking why a judicial ruling is being sought. But Elwell and his allies on the council believe going to court will produce a quick and decisive end to the case.
The controversy surrounding Gonnelli began after he won his council seat in 2006. The candidate whom Gonnelli defeated wrote to the state asking the Local Finance Board, a government ethics committee, to investigate whether Gonnelli’s two positions were in conflict, since the Town Council oversees the fire department.
Is court the only option?
On Tuesday, the council spent more than two hours discussing Gonnelli’s case during a closed-door caucus session, and the matter consumed most of the three-hour Town Council meeting that followed.
This came after several possible alternatives were discussed and rejected in December.
In early December, Town Attorney Frank Leanza and Town Administrator David Drumeler had told Gonnelli that he could not be sworn in as chief on Jan. 1 unless he resigned or took a leave of absence from the council. Gonnelli balked at these options at the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting. There, Gonnelli’s supporters in the audience pressured the governing body to come up with another solution.
The council spent more than two hours discussing Gonnelli’s case during a closed-door caucus session.
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In response, Mayor Elwell said that if a legal solution could be worked out, he would support it, and he asked Town Attorney Frank Leanza to come up with some options.
In a private mid-December meeting with the captains and fire chiefs, including Gonnelli, Elwell proposed creating an administrative chief position to assume some of the duties currently assigned to the fire chief. Duties specifically related to firefighting would remain under the auspices of the fire chief.
The Fire Department angrily rejected this option, forcing the Town Council to come up with another solution.
In late December, Councilman Gary Jeffas suggested drafting an ordinance that would assign the fire chief’s administrative duties – procurement and discipline – to the deputy chief. He drafted a proposed ordinance.
But days after Christmas, Leanza and the town’s labor attorney Ralph Lamparello concluded that Gonnelli’s conflict would still remain, even if Jeffas’ ordinance was passed. Leanza and Lamparello determined that court was the only remedy.
Even though the Local Finance Board’s inaction on the matter is what brought the town to this point, Leanza said at the meeting last week, “A judge would have to make a ruling anyway. The Local Finance Board decision was never going to make the final ruling on this.”
This is, however, the first time anyone has publicly stated that court approval was necessary.
When the resolution to go to court came up for a vote, Elwell and Councilmen Richard Kane, John Reilly, and John Shinnick voted in favor of the measure, while Councilmen Jeffas and John Bueckner abstained.
“While I understand the council’s need to have closure on this matter, this resolution reads like a legal brief, and I think the wording of it puts Mike in the worst possible light,” Jeffas said. “If our goal is to keep Mike as a councilman, and to let him be fire chief, I would feel more comfortable if this resolution were worded differently.”
Participation in meetings in question
“The Local Finance Board clearly doesn’t see this as a priority,” Gonnelli said after the meeting. “If they did, they would have made a decision by now. If I were really breaking the law I think they would have made a decision to stop me.”
In the meantime, Leanza has recommended that Gonnelli not participate in council meetings or vote with the governing body until a temporary agreement can be reached regarding how he can do so without violating the law, pending a decision from a judge.
“There is case law out there that says, if a councilman who is ineligible to serve on the governing body sits with the governing body and deliberates with them, even if he abstains, his mere presence is enough to taint the vote of the entire governing body,” Leanza said. “The decisions of the governing body could be challenged in court, which would cost taxpayers’ money, and the members of the governing body could be charged with malfeasance in office if an ineligible councilman sits with them.”
Although Gonnelli attended the Jan. 13 council meeting, he sat in the audience.
“I only agreed to sit out because I hadn’t had a chance to talk to my attorney before the meeting,” Gonnelli said. “Before the Jan. 27 [meeting] comes around, I’ll have talked to my attorney to see what my options are.”
Lamparello is expected to file legal paperwork on behalf of the town by Jan. 23. Gonnelli’s lawyer will then have the opportunity to file a response.
It is unclear how long it could take for a judge to rule on the matter, although Drumeler believes the town will have a decision by the end of February.