Monday, March 25, 2013
Mayor: Sandy recovery spurs decision; door left open for future run or independent run
Brick Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis announced Monday morning he would not seek re-election. Acropolis’ term expires Dec. 31, 2013. Acropolis said that numerous issues in the wake of Superstorm Sandy – rebuilding Brick, opposing flood maps and distributing grant funding – have collectively served as one of his primary motivators against seeking re-election. “Rebuilding Brick should not be a political football,” Acropolis said, predicting that if he had run, the rebuilding effort would have been politicized. “When something like this happens, it really changes everything,” said Acropolis. “Everything is always going to be pre-Sandy and post-Sandy. Mayors, whether it's Bill Akers in Seaside or [Toms River mayor] Tom Kelaher, they’re on the …
Monday, October 22, 2012
Five job titles would be cut under proposal
Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis and Councilman Joseph Sangiovanni will propose an ordinance at the next township council meeting that will do away with five unfilled positions in township government. The positions were included in the recent restructuring plan that was vetoed by the mayor. The mayor's proposal will not include cuts to any filled positions, nor will it create any new positions. The previous restructuring ordinance would have cut several positions, including those filled by deputy business administrator Juan Bellu, recreation department head Dave Francese and council secretary Jennifer Hartmann, and created three new positions, including a deputy township clerk. Officials from opposing sides of the political aisle argued over …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Councilman forced to abstain after legal opinion
An attempt to veto Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis' veto of a controversial ordinance that sought to restructure Brick's municipal government failed Tuesday night. A pair of ordinances that made up the restructuring both passed in 4-3 votes last month, but a supermajority of five votes was required for the override resolution to be passed by the township council. Though one of the three council members who voted against the ordinances last month – Councilman Bob Moore – switched sides and voted in favor of the override, Councilman Dan Toth was forced to abstain after Acropolis delivered a lengthy legal opinion from a conflict attorney advising Toth against voting on the measure. The lack of Toth's vote meant a supermajority of council members …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Council President says he will push for override
Brick Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis has formally vetoed a pair of controversial governmental restructuring ordinances that were passed by the township council last week. The mayor promised after the Sept. 25 council meeting when the ordinances were approved that he would veto them. Council President John Ducey, one of the ordinances' proponents, said he expects the council will attempt to override the mayoral veto. The ordinances, passed in a 4-3 vote that was not along party lines, eliminate several positions at town hall and create three new ones. They also eliminate the departments of Recreation as well as Community Development and Land Use. The functions of those departments will be rolled into existing departments. Ducey has said the …
Rift between administration and council may be growing
Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis' administration will now bar township employees from attending meetings of small committees of the township council. In a letter to township council members this week, Business Administrator Scott Pezarras said the mayor has decided township employees should not attend the committee meetings of three council members, and questions about township business should be submitted in writing. "I can't ask the council president any questions in public because he refuses to answer," said Acropolis. "What I decided to do was to have everything put in writing. If the council has a question about a project being done, put them in an e-mail and we'll answer them for you." Council President John Ducey said Thursday that the …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Could it now be back to the drawing board?
Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said Tuesday night that he would veto a mayoral salary ordinance passed by a majority of council members last week. The ordinance – which would reduce mayoral pay to $15,000 per year if a mayor works 35 hours or more per week outside of his mayoral duties – was approved by a 5-2 majority of council members despite some objections from the public and two Republican council members. Under Brick's form of government, the mayor retains veto power. A veto can be overturned by a vote of five council members, however. Council President John Ducey has said that the ordinance provides "part-time pay for part-time work," but some residents have criticized the measure for what they have said are loopholes that would allow …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Council approves salary ordinance in 5-2 vote
Brick's mayor will be paid $52,000 per year if he or she works less than 35 hours per week outside of town hall. But the salary will be reduced to $15,000 for mayors who work full-time in outside positions, defined as 35 hours or more per week. The issue, which has been debated for more than two months, was settled by a 5-2 vote by the township council Tuesday night. Council President John Ducey has said the ordinance provides "part-time pay for part-time work," but not everyone agreed with that premise. In a public hearing before the vote was taken, several residents offerred opinions on alternative solutions to determining the mayor's pay. "Cutting the mayor's salary is degrading," said former Councilman Al Chrobocinski. "It gives the …
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Former Scarpelli-era firm back in the mix, billing records show
The law firm that served the township under a previous Democratic administration is back in the mix, and its return has ruffled some feathers on the Republican side of the aisle. The firm of Starkey, Kelly, Kenneally, Cunningham and Turnbach, which held the township's legal professional services contract under the administration of former mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, began working on assignments for the township council Jan. 2, according to a copy of an invoice sent to the township's purchasing agent. The firm was approved as part of the township's alternate legal services pool in January. A copy of the bill, obtained by Brick Patch through an Open Public Records Act request, indicates the firm performed 63 hours of work during the month of …
Monday, February 20, 2012
Mayor's foes blast decision to eliminate public works
Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis' decision to present a municipal budget that calls for the effective elimination of the township's public works department has been blasted by Democrats and union leaders. John Menshon, chairman of Transport Workers Union Local 225 Branch 4, said the labor organization has filed a formal grievance complaint against the township. "Whatever it takes, we'll be pursuing it," Menshon said. The complaint, filed with the state Civil Service Commission, alleges that the township has "unjustly filed a layoff plan to coerce the union into concessionary bargaining," Menshon said. The township and the TWU have been in negotiations for about three months, Menshon said, and both sides are still far apart. The grievance calls …
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
No change yet, but it's not completely back to the drawing board
Township council members voted to temporarily put off passing an ordinance that would modify the mayor's compensation package. After a lengthy public hearing on the plan, the council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to table the ordinance which would set two salaries for the mayor's position in Brick. The ordinance, favored by Council President John Ducey, would have left the salary at the current rate of $52,000 if a mayor worked less than 35 hours per week in another job, but cut it to $15,000 if the mayor worked 35 hours or more at another job, public or private. While the measure received some initial support from council members, questions from the public as to the ramifications of passing such an ordinance may have led to Tuesday night's vote…
Larry Kit.
8:23 pm on Friday, March 29, 2013
As Ducey and company are to put KR in her new job soon....same old stuff from both sides. pleeeezzzeeee more ›