When the City Council met on Wednesday, no one at the dais knew that at the crack of dawn the next morning, the newly-elected mayor would be leaving his home in handcuffs.
Still, the council’s agenda for the meeting highlighted two issues that intertwine with the mayor’s legal predicament: his recommendations for six new city directors to help run City Hall, and his appointments to the Zoning Board, the agency that grants exceptions or “variances” to existing zoning codes.
If someone wants to build a development in town that rises higher or wider than the zoning permits, they must get permission from the Zoning Board – so the people on the board are very important.
According to the federal charges brought Thursday against Mayor Peter Cammarano, the youngest mayor in Hoboken’s history allegedly told a developer and campaign contributor that he would help him get his development on the council agenda.
Just an hour after Cammarano’s swearing-in on July 1, the new board majority led by Council President Dawn Zimmer introduced an ordinance to restore appointment power for Zoning Board of Adjustments members to the council. The power had shifted from the council to the mayor in the 1990s when Mayor Anthony Russo was in charge.
The ordinance drew criticism for being an early “slap in the face” to Cammarano, and Councilwoman Beth Mason raised technical concerns, but the new council majority decided to vote to introduce the measure.
On Wednesday, the same majority heeded the concerns of other council members and sent the measure to a council committee to be analyzed and possibly reconstructed.
Who controls development?
This time, the main concern of critics – both on the council and in the audience – was that moving the appointment power back to the nine-member council could create more development-related lawsuits, because the council is the body to whom Zoning Board decisions are appealed.
“This should be a discussion,” Mason pleaded to the council majority, adding that the ordinance may have “serious unintended consequences.”
Other members of the council and public tried to convince the five-person majority that an “advice and consent” appointee may be more cooperative than one given the seat by only the mayor or only the council. Right now, the mayor makes the appointments and does not need council approval. With the proposed ordinance, only the council would make the appointments.
“Both case law and the statutes have been ignored way too often.” – Dave Mello
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Planning Board member Hank Forrest gave Zoning Board statistics from 2005 to 2007 saying the variance-granting board was approving 80 to 94 percent of the applications that came before them, much higher than the statewide average of 50 percent.
The ordinance’s sponsor, Councilman Dave Mello, agreed to send the measure to a committee.
“Both case law and the statutes have been ignored way too often,” he said.
Appointing directors
After receiving Cammarano’s recommendations for six high-level administration positions a week before the meeting, the council decided not to vote on the six appointments until an interview process was conducted, including a public question-and-answer session.
Councilwoman Carol Marsh will head the ad hoc committee conducting interviews and a session of public interaction with the administrators.
Nonetheless, Cammarano sent a letter to the council Wednesday telling the governing body that the six appointees would take their positions until the council’s process was complete.
Zimmer said at the time that the appointments would likely get approval, barring any “major issues.”
But now the situation becomes unclear following Cammarano’s arrest. If the mayor chooses, he can appoint an acting mayor while he deals with his legal issues, but under the law, he can only appoint a city director or the city clerk to replace him. On Friday, he was out on bail and back at work.
Since the city currently has no directors that were council-approved to their current position, that would limit Cammarano’s possible interim successor to City Clerk Jim Farina.
If Cammarano resigns his position, Council President Zimmer, who lost the mayoralty race to Cammarano last month, would assume control.
Rocky start
Zimmer led Wednesday’s council meeting off with a few obvious gaffes that were criticized by the audience.
A local Little Leaguer who pitched a perfect game was awaiting his proclamation from the mayor with a group of family and friends at the meeting, but Zimmer neglected to move their presentation to the beginning of the meeting.
The new council president said at the meeting that she had been given bad advice, told she could not adjust the order of the agenda. After complaints from the boy’s mother, she did so.
Zimmer also took heat for not taking a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting for the recently deceased Deputy City Clerk John DePalma.
The board did eventually observe a moment of silence.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.