When Dr. Felix Roque ran for mayor of West New York this past spring, the biggest items on his agenda were to lower taxes and clean up corruption. Now Roque, who is approaching his first 100 days in office, says he has uncovered a lot of unexpected problems.
He has alleged that certain Town Hall employees were being paid for hours they did not work. He says he expects to find more such issues in local government, for which he blames the past administration.
“[Former Mayor Sal Vega] did not return calls or make himself available [during the transition],” Roque said in an interview last week. “There was absolutely no cooperation.”
‘I just touched the tip of the iceberg.’ – Mayor Roque
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Last week, Vega did not return several calls to his mobile phone for comment.
From transition to investigation
In West New York, the mayor also serves as a commissioner on the five-member Board of Commissioners. The mayoralty and the commission positions are all considered part-time.
When Roque’s administration took over Town Hall in May, they discovered “that some people weren’t working, so that started the investigation,” said Assistant Town Attorney Joe DeMarco.
Soon, three employees from the West New York Recreation Department were arrested by local police. According to a press release from Town Hall dated July 22, one of the employees, David Almonte, allegedly was being paid to work during hours when he was actually attending Memorial High School as a senior. Former Recreation Director Timothy Nagurka was allegedly signing off on the hours for the two workers, and was charged with theft of services and falsification of records.
These arrests were made possible in large part to Mayor Roque’s hiring an independent auditor, Carr, Daley, Sullivan, & Weir PC from Livingston, N.J., to conduct a department-by-department investigation, according to DeMarco. Each investigation consists of looking into each department’s cash management, revenue, and expense flows.
Roque said last week, “I just touched the tip of the iceberg on [the alleged] corruption that these hoodlums had in the last couple of years in this [Recreation] Department and other departments.”
He says he hopes to improve each department by “teaching them to be better public servants.”
Roque says he has discovered a lot of improper usage of municipal property, like vehicles and cell phones being used for personal matters.
“Cell phone usages were in the $6,000-a-month range [for the commissioners and for former police Chief Albert Bringa] coming at taxpayer expense,” said Roque.
Roque said that vehicles that were being used by the commissioners have now been donated to the Police Department to improve patrols throughout the town, while town-issued cell phones have been taken away from Town Hall employees.
The mayor also said he has discovered that the town may have been paying for political activity. He said he has gotten invoices for campaign advertising in local newspapers.
“So I put a stop to a lot of the self-marketing done by the Vega administration,” Roque said.
Roque says that he expects the investigation into the Recreation Department and all departments to bring about more charges and possibly more arrests in the near future.
Pending 6 percent raises
Currently, Roque is also in the middle of battle regarding the Board of Education. He is questioning the legality of Vega’s appointing two members to the school board in May, just before Vega left office. State law requires that any person appointed to a five-year term on a municipal board be appointed between April 1 and 15 of each year and seated by May 15. Thus, Roque has filed a petition with the state commissioner of education against the appointments.
The other issue for Roque is an expected salary increase for municipal workers who are represented by the CWA (Communication Workers of America) Local 1045. The union represents almost all civil service workers in West New York.
The Vega administration negotiated a contract with the union that included a sunset clause.
“If a new contract was not given to the union workers by June 30, 2009, their salaries would rise by 4.25 percent automatically. However, the employees, in order to save 25 jobs, decided to postpone the automatic raise until June 30, 2011 in which the increase would be 6 percent,” explained CWA staff representative Nick Lordo.
Roque said, “The town has a projected deficit of $4 to $6 million and cannot afford it.”
He added, “I might make them work three days a week. They might not like it, but the town is already broke.”
The employees currently work five days a week, but Mayor Roque’s proposal would include two furlough days each week if a new contract is not worked out with the union.
The town is taking this issue to court, according to the assistant town attorney.
‘Healer’ and the future
Roque continues to work at two jobs: As a leader of West New York and as a doctor. He considers both to be one and the same.
“A mayor and a doctor is a healer. I am a healer,” said Roque.
He currently holds appointment-only office hours to see his constituents every Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and one Saturday per month.
Among the top requests from his constituents is housing, he said. He said he plans to improve the housing situation by working with the Housing Authority and developers to create affordable homes.
Roque said his short-term goals are to improve the education system, fight crime, and bring in more development projects to lower taxes. His long-term goals are to build better schools, improve on the school curriculum, and create partnerships with sister cities around the world.
Roque said his overall goal is to make sure “morale is up” for both the town and his staff.
“I am not a micro-manager,” he said. “I delegate to my staff. I trust my staff and I have wonderful commissioners who help me ensure the town is managed correctly.”
Gustavo L. Adrianzen may be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com.