At the end of a four-hour meeting on Monday, part of it held in closed session, Bloomfield’s town council appointed Christopher Goul the town’s new police chief. Goul had sued the township in October 2009 when Mark Leonard was appointed to the position. Goul argued that he should have been appointed because he scored .85 points higher on a civil service exam.
Goul’s appointment was the most striking in a series of appointments in the first meeting of the new year. After facing down a serious challenge from fellow Democrats in June and going on to win the general election in November, Mayor Ray McCarthy has consolidated power.
Although few people in the audience remained for the appointments, it was worth it to see the change in tone. McCarthy announced his new appointments by haltingly reading them off his laptop screen. Occasionally, he would let one of his four supporters suggest an appointment. Janice Maly, who ran on a slate opposing McCarthy, and Nicholas Joanow were conspicuously left out of the process. They were also stripped of all their liaison positions.
Earlier in the evening, about 160 tenants of Troy Towers, the high-rise apartment building overlooking Watsessing Park, showed up for the Bloomfield Town Council’s first meeting of the new year, complaining that their rents have shot up 20 percent and asking the town to step in and help.
One tenant, Kevin Lindahl, said he was actually served with an eviction notice by his landlord for handing out flyers about the council meeting.
Trisch Comstock, president of the Bloomfield Tenants Association, spoke in support of reinstating rent control, which existed in Bloomfield in some form prior to 1994. Councilman Robert Ruane, who rents at Troy Towers, responded that he and the mayor would set up a meeting with Troy’s landlord.
I was wondering when this update would come out.
A first meeting lasting 4 hours and all we get is a new police chief and an issue at Troy Towers? Either the meeting was severely lacking in content or this update is.
Anything else discussed?
WHo is “McCarthy”? Does he have a first name? A title? I assume he’s the newly elected mayor. Shouldn’t that fact be mentioned in the story?
So what’s the back story here, for those of us who can’t quite recall. Leonard was appointed under a previous mayor, and Goul filed his ridiculous suit? And then there was a change in mayor, and now Goul is in? Geesh. This sounds like a great story, but I feel like I’m supposed to be playing connect the dots.
Hildy,
McCarthy is the re-elected mayor (4th term) of Bloomfield. Leonard was voted in as chief by the majority of the previous council. However, Chief Leonard was not McCarthy’s pick and so he vetoed that appointment (as he vetoed every other vote that went against him) and that’s what started the law suits. McCarthy couldn’t stand no longer being in the majority and instead of dealing with it (as other councils had to when he was in the majority) he pulled a power play.
As to council reps Joanow and Maly being stripped of their liaisons and being excluded from proceedings, that’s a slap in the face not only to those two who have given so much of their personal time to the council and the township but also and more importantly to the people they represent. McCarthy has officially decided the people who voted for and are represented by these two council members do not have or deserve a say in how their town is run.
I happen to be one of them. I am a taxpayer, and by shutting out Mr. Joanow McCarthy has officially decided my opinion doesn’t matter. Oh, but I’d better get my property taxes paid on time!
Thanks for nothing Ray.
I don’t mean to be snakry, but who made you ombudsman, Hildy?
You obviously were falling down in your duties, ROC. Come on, liven it up! And answer my question please…
That really stinks, Karen. McCarthy sounds like a piece of work, though I’m relying on entirely on your version of events, since the Baristanet ombudsman is not doing his job here. I wonder what proportion of public servants are fair in their actions and how many seem to approach their jobs with an excess of gamesmanship. Seems like too much of the latter, to me.
I support the comments by Karen Banda. I have been secretary of the Township of Bloomfield Recycling Committee for the 4 years it has been in existence. Councilman Nicholas Joanow has been the liaison to our Committee from the Town Council for 3 of these years, and he has done an outstanding job of doing all that he can to improve recycling in Bloomfield. It has been an honor to work with him. He is the most passionate of any of our local government officials for the environment, but despite this, he has also been removed by Mayor McCarthy from the Open Space Trust Fund, another important environmental committee.
Mr. Joanow also represents my ward where he has proven himself always available to anyone who contacts him, and who has taken initiative to resolve problems he sees that need addressing.
It is a shame that Mayor McCarthy, with the approval of the new majority on the Council, is going along with his removal from these committees leaving him on none at all while other councilmembers are on two committees, boards or commissions.
It is clear to many volunteers who have worked hard to help our town improve on many levels that the decision to remove Mr. Joanow and others from certain Township committees is based on political motives, i.e., that the people who were replaced did not support his electoral campaign in the last election and therefore did not deserve to continue in whatever liaison or volunteer spot they had occupied no matter how dedicated and effective they have been.
Hildy,
The ombudsman did his job. The Barista edited his copy with a very heavy hand.
Bad Bad Barista, boy did you take the very meat out of this thread.
I am interested in following the appeal to the court decision on whether or not McCarthy’s vetos were actually legal. I have heard that the judge who found in his favor is a weak link, and that there’s a good chance of her decision being reversed. If in fact his vetoes were not legal, then do the former appointments and dismissals stand?
I have also heard that test scores alone do not account for the entire decision in appointing a chief, and if the scores of two candidates are within a close range, the council has some discretion.
But I don’t know if what I have heard is absolute fact, although I’m inclined to believe it because the source is very reliable.
Kit, the veto issue was dropped in one of the many 5 to 2 votes that took place Monday. McCarthy voted with the majority to withdraw the suit against his use of the veto. I’m still trying to figure that one out. http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/113309389_Inquiry_into_mayor_s_veto_dropped.html
The discretion issue of the council on civil service appointments is currently the the subject of debate on the Bloomfield forum on NJ.com. It’s a moot point might now, regarding the new Police Chief, but could come up again on other such appointments.
Nobody should be surprised that after the local Democratic machine spent whatever it took to buy back the Politburo, um, I mean, the council that McCarthy is now tightening their grip on power by shutting out anyone who dared to go against the family, oops, I mean, the party.
Oh, and McCarthy is a vindictive little prick. Joanow and Maly are ward council representatives, not at-large; McCarthy just flashed a big fat finger at residents of the first and second wards, and seems intent upon disenfranchising them of their representation on the council.
That is, at least until the Democratic county committee buys back those council seats as well.
Who knew that Bloomfield and North Korea had so much in common? We are both officially now one-party states!
Wow, Geoff, that is pretty stunning! I guess there isn’t the political will to fight it (or pay for it).
The flies are buzzin’ all over it…
Let’s see Ruane lives in Troy Towers where I assume he pays rent. He’s against the landlord raising rent. Yet he and the council have no problem raising property taxes every year on property owners.
Ruane’s got some balls to ask property owners to pay higher taxes yet resist an increase in his rent.
Dear Councilfolk, how do you think it will look to potential investors in Bloomfield Center where the plan is to have ‘luxury’ apartments while down the block you dictate to a landlord how much he/she can charge for rent?
This won’t end well.
Perfect post Pork Roll! Actually, in November Venezia did flip off councilwoman Spychala in public at a polling place. So much for the new tone of civility on this council.
Ray doesn’t need his veto power any more, he’s got his posse back and clearly he doesn’t expect any disagreements in the next three years.
What a sham.
All I can say is it’s really a shame that the Mayor has removed these two key people from their positions on the Town committees. Both Nick Joanow and Janice Maly are such vibrant people, who have worked for our Town with an energy and enthusiasm for the people that you almost never see anymore – anywhere! Nick represents my Ward and I agree with those that commented in this forum, that by taking him off the committee in my Ward, and out of the proceedings and by taking Janice off the committees in her Ward, and out of the proceedings, Ray McCarthy is really removing our Town representation.
Absolute Power corrupts absolutely!