Incompetence at the helm is certainly paying off big dividends, just another $10k out the window.

"The bill indicates members of the Starkey firm had been in contact with Gilmore and Monahan as early as Jan. 2. That day, attorneys from the firm discussed "various issues" with Gilmore's office, billing records show"

"As the month went on, records show, attorney Kevin N. Starkey of the firm reviewed health benefits issues, researched the township's authority to oversee municipal utilities authority compensation, reviewed meeting rules as well as appointments to boards and the "appointment process for municipal personnel," among other issues"

I love this part;

At no point does the bill reference phone calls or meetings with elected officials other than Ducey and Councilwoman Susan Lydecker. (I guess we all know now who's helping Mrs.Lydecker with the tough stuff like...words)

"But Ducey said otherwise.

"All legal work goes through George Gilmore," Ducey said. "He approved the legal work and the bill."

This is because they're throwing it right back in all of your unqualified faces right now..

Think of it like this;

John Ducey: "George, can we hire an attorney to review some of the things we have no clue or understanding of to spoon feed us the information?"

George Gilmore: (replies while he's thinking to himself, 'wait this this hits the paper' ) Sure John, feel free to hire another attorney, that's not a problem, I understand your situation.

"Send lawyers, guns, and money."

ECS ... Its Simple, need to show evidence that Gilmore approved (this s/b a sign off by him) who ever is wrong should justifiy their actions & repay the town for the error or legal action taken against them. This is how business world works!

Now that’s $20G’s the council is sending to friends, we can’t forget the new auditors that council is using which cost $10G’s more than the previous firm! Where is JOE LAMB you should be getting red faced in front of the council regarding this issue or are your rants only towards Republicans, I thought you were the self-appointed guardian of Brick?

The Republican Mayor threatens to have his own meetings and to take the Township attorney and the BA with him. The Democrat controlled council hires a lawyer for help. Mayor is upset that the puppet master Gilmore did not approve it. Both legal services have strong political ties to their party. Mayor and Council engaged in a power struggle. Pathetic on both sides....

Acropolis should be the very last person to complain about political handouts. He has taken care of himself, backers, family, friends, etc at the expense of the taxpayers, but this shows most politicos are self serving scumbags, regardless of party.

WOW....call me stupid, but I thought the new council members said they would stop the overspending & would not take township health benefits in order to roll-back the tax increase. Now they are spending $$$, taking benefits and/or stipends. This is why I believe township councils should not be run by D or R parties. Council members should be people who have true concerns about the residents, not the party affiliation. Politics suck!!!

I get a whole different feel from this article. Although I don't believe in the extra spending I do believe that the D council members should cover their a$$es. Who know if the legal advice from the Gilmore group is what is best for Brick. Gilmore and all the Brick R's have all been in bed together so really who's interests are they going to protect?

Sorry but I think Duecy was right on this one. I am willing to wager, the reason Starkey was called in to do this is because Acropolis and Gilmore, just like the budget, had it all planned the Capriani wouldnt do or refuse to do what the council asked.

Wake up people, the childish behavior on the part of Acropolis is very apparent. I for one am tired of it!

STEVE TAKE YOUR HOCKEY STICK AND MOVE ON WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR CHILDISH BEHAVIOR!

DUECY DRAFT AN ORDINANCE AND PUT UP BACK TO NON PARTISAN GOVERNMENT SO WE CAN GER RID OF THE PROFESSIONAL POLITITIANS IN THIS TOWN!

Better yet ALL of you resign, Mayor and Council, and lets start over from scratch!

The only thing Gilmore is upset with is that's $10,000.00 less dollars he can get from the Township this year.

all of them are just wasting and stealing taxpayers money

Ummmm I may be mistaken but did i read something about an attorney named Kenneally being indicted on ethics charges somewhere? Is this the same law firm where that attorney is practicing? Just asking...

Wonder why on the same day the Mayor gets a pay cut the attorney bill makes a headline. Mr. Gilmore is in charge of the legal billing practices according to Mr. Mayor. Appears Mr. Mayor is looking for some other issues than the crisis on the budget and his Mayor's cut in salary. Council what you save on the Mayor's salary use for legal opinions and get sound advice. What next?

Mayor Acropolis has got everybody's attention to this matter so he can plan his next caper to make he other party look bad.

As taxpayers, let's take a hard look at the Gilmore billing practices. How much did they bill for last year and before that? Let's look at the engineers. Are there more township vendors to at for billing practices in the budget to save our garbage and trash services.

How much in Engineering Services was awarded since the April 2011 referandum ?

With Council Majority, the Democrats basically control half the Government. But in this form of Government, all of the employees in town Hall WORK FOR THE MAYOR. The only exceptions are one or two people in the Clerks office that are Council appointments.

Does anyone here really think that the Democrats would not need their own legal Council in this kind of hostile environment?

This is just our bully of a Mayor playing politics. He is willing to go nuclear and take down everyone else with him. I hope the people of Brick don't fall for this BS.

Sangiovanis' comment is a joke. "it's too loose for me" This guy had a job created for him as supervisor of the school busses, and I heard he is hard to find there, plus his daughter is an attorney who was appointed to a position in Brick, don't know where. I guess it's only "too loose for him when the other party does it. I still have a problem with what the Dems did, but it really could be that they did not trust Gilmores' firm.

Any Lawyer has a fiduciary responsibility to their client in the case of our town lawyer it’s the township of Brick and not the person in the mayors’ office. If any council member were to need questions answered it is the responsibility of the town lawyer to do there job properly and with out prodigious.

In a realistic world it should work that way, but unfortunately we all know it doesn't work this way. Our society is based more on "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". The type of government needs to change here in Brick and quick. I am so sick and tired if the smoke and mirror type of government. All I keep think regarding this article and how things are allowed to happen in government here is.....aren't these all conflicts of interest? On both sides of the political parties. Why should a campaign supported be allowed to do business in Brick government? It should be a practice that stops cause it really doesn't seem trust worthy.

IMO the mayor is as paranoid about others discussing him, as is the chief of police This town will be in better hands, when new leadership takes over.

How does the Township go back to the non-partisan form of government we once had in this town? We can no longer tolerate this game of political pong that the Dems and Republican like to play. Not only here in Brick, but the rest of the country is getting very tired of it. As one person said on this board, it's a two headed snake with the same body.

It should not matter what side of the aisle you come from this is not fair to the taxpayers of Brick Township. How come the issue of hiring this firm was not discussed at the Caucus or Regular Council meeting? Clearly the Council is either ineffective in representating us or worse they deliberately held back this information and failed miserably in their professed quest for "transparency."

In as much as I was outraged over Council President Ducey accepting medical benefits, this is far worse. "63 hours of work during the month of January, producing a $10,602 bill" - this is simply inexcusable.

And I will be extremely disgusted with Councilwoman Lydecker if she had anything to do with this type of behavior. Hopefully, there is a sensible explanation as to why this is the first time this issue is raising its ugly head. It seems to me that Councilman Moore should be the first to question this bill. Let's see where his loyalty lies - with the people or his party. One guess but I hope that I am wrong.

Again, it should not matter what side of the aisle you come from this is not fair to the taxpayers of Brick Township.

Joseph and Paul, Well said! If this attorney's firm represented us in the past, doesn't the attorney recognize that it would have been prudent to discuss the use of his services in an open public forum even if the newly elected or two of the newly elected Council members knew. We cannot assume that the other Council members were aware of this substantial bill of $10,000. Time will tell.
And for what, in part, to try to draft an ordinance on the Mayor's Compensation. What a joke at our EXPENSE.

Need help gathering signatures for NONPARTISAN Government, I suspect that it could be done. Politicians through and through!

The Starkey law firm is looking into matters like why Brick still doesn't have the $6.7 million from Foodtown and other matters. This will more than pay for itself. Acropolis has been getting away with murder. The Standard alternative contract is another dog. Traders Cove another. Ocean Ice Palace another. Now the Health Insurance fiasco.
The auditing firm picked by the 4 new council members is actually charging $18,000 to $25,000 less than the former auditing company charged their last 3 years. The initial year is the most demanding for all auditing firms because they have to learn all the information from scratch. What was the prior auditing firms excuse?

I can't wait for the new auditing firm's results. Acropolis, you can run but you can't hide.
Why can't people see a correlation between a 61% tax increase and firms taking a look at what the others were doing to get us in this mess?

While I have no problem with the Council voting for a different auditing firm during the proper venue (as is there right to do) at the Council Meeting in an Open Forum, I completely disagree with you on everything else.

It is disingenuous to claim that Starkey is billing us for his input on the Food Town matter or at least it had BETTER BE. I attend most Council Meetings and watch the ones that I miss, and this would not be proper or prudent.

Obviously there is no point in having a discussion with you - one who has his mind made up. In the future, please abide by the five-minute time allowed for each person to come to the microphone at the Council Meetings. Your last tirade lasted for quite some time and many are growing weary of your lengthy mistruths.

There is no Reality only perception. My perception is that Reps were not communicating to the new Council members. There seems to be evidence that the Mayor did not share with the council his plans for doing away with DPW. He had a bigger obligation to talk with the voters and didn't. He should have held those Town Hall Meetings he threatened - not on Tuesdays and not with the Township Attorney present and then perhaps, the new Council members would not have felt the need for legal advice from a different attorney than the one Acropolis appointed with Advice and consent.
Mostly, it is sad that any good Acropolis did is likely to burn in the flames of his current vengence and acrimony.

I agree with Me on this one. The mayor has the town attorney (Gilmore) and the BA/ABA on his side and at his call. I don't blame the D's on the council to get someone they trust because the Mayor can have his appointments do as he pleases like he wanted to in not have them attend the council meetings.

Clamdigger, well written and well said!

"As the month went on, records show, attorney Kevin N. Starkey of the firm reviewed health benefits issues, researched the township's authority to oversee municipal utilities authority compensation, reviewed meeting rules as well as appointments to boards and the "appointment process for municipal personnel," among other issues"

This is astonishing to me. It is reasonable to assume that All of these Issues could have been brought to light at a Council Meeting and directing to the Township Attorney. It is my belief that inexperience may have played a role in this unfortunate incident and it cost us dearly. In my opinion, it makes little difference to me which firm represents the Township; however, protocol should have been followed and this was not done.

Taxpayers cannot be expected to foot the bill each time an individual Council member unilateraly seeks an interpretation from outside Council without public meeting notification. Consider the ramifications and costs associated with this unsound precedent.

i thought the new council was going to save the taxpayers money.....how much have they saved taxpayers since January 1st ???????........Looks like ZERO !!!!!!!

Looks like several posters here have certain objections to pay/salary info being posted on the data universe web site. If you don't like the info, don't read it PP !!! Very easy problem solved.

One other thing that bothered me last night from the PDF invoice was how many times the "Various" issue is addressed to the tune of 19.4 billable hours = $3,259.20.

If this is an itemized invoice, what is covered under "Various"? The NFL Playoffs, the weather,the lack of snow that can be blamed on the mayor?

If these various issues are so important and expensive they should be itemized,especially the ones that lasted for 2 hrs.

Betty Ann Fuller, thank you. They should have done it at an Open Forum. There is simply no excuse for the public to learn of it in this fashion. Unacceptable! Clearly the public's interest were not served.

Once again, political advantage trumps public interest.

Some comments here present this as if January 2 was the first time this law firm was consulted to give a second opinions on the issues stated in the article. This is pretty funny. Don't you think that this firm was actively involved in the Local Party in general and in the campaign for council? Wonder if any of these conversations were future dated in order to bill them to the taxpayers. The candidates were seen going in and out of the firms offices including after election day. Sure hope there aren't any violations of the open public meetings act going on here. Maybe the law firm can review this issue and also bill it to the taxpayers.

The new council cut the auditor's fee $25,000 or more than 29%.

John C, the auditing firm charged $85,000 last year! The new auditing firm will charge $60,000.
Any comment on the Mayor costing the taxpayers $1 million more on health insurance the last 2 years? This came from Christie's Comptroller.