To the Editor:
Kudos to Richard Censullo, MPH, as he stood up to Gary LaPelusa at the last city council meeting. LaPelusa was an embarrassment to Bayonne as he questioned Mr. Censullo’s credentials. I did some checking and found out that Mr. Censullo is more than qualified to serve as our health director.
New Jersey is encouraging cities to save money by sharing services. In fact, many towns share health officers. It was embarrassing that Councilman LaPelusa couldn’t grasp this concept. Jersey City has almost half a million people and they have one designated health officer. Mr. Censullo will certainly be able to handle Bayonne, Union City and North Bergen. The question about what if there were emergencies in Bayonne and North Bergen at the same time is just silly. What if there were two emergencies in North Bergen at the same time? You prioritize and delegate, that is what professionals do.
I saw Mr. Censullo in front of the council chamber an hour before the council meeting. Why did LaPelusa wait until the meeting had begun to try and embarrass Mr. Censullo about his credentials? Couldn’t he have just asked him before the meeting began? Wouldn’t that have been the decent thing to do?
BUTCH WEBSTER