(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Sept. 8, 2010)
SOUTH AMBOY — After City Council President Fred Henry announced last week that a public hearing will be held on amendments to the Calendar Year 2010 Budget at the Council’s Sept. 15 meeting, he apparently did not anticipate the firestorm that followed.“The DCA (state Department of Community Affairs) had a couple of questions, but we’ve taken-care of it,” Henry said, matter-of-factly.That did not sit well with resident Eileen Ryan, however.“I called someone at DCA,” she said. “If everything-else has been approved, why are we at the bottom of the ladder?“According to the information she gave me — and I don’t think she’s wrong — she told me that DCA made several requests to the City of South Amboy about items in the Budget that they needed more information about, and there was no response whatsoever from the City of South Amboy,” Ryan said.“For two months, we’ve been told about the Budget, and I wanted to believe that you guys really-knew,” she added. “Can you tell me if she’s right? Mrs. (Business Administrator Camille) Tooker and Mr. (Chief Financial OfficerTerance) O’Neill should personally-answer, or be fired.”
“What’s this person’s name?” asked attorney Thomas Lanza, sitting-in for his brother, City Law Director John Lanza.“I can’t tell you that,” Ryan replied before going-on.“Everybody’s been told it’s been ready, and I just wish to get this resolved,” she said. “What should I tell Amelia?”Ryan moved-forward to hand a document up to Henry when Lanza barked-out, “Stay back!”“I don’t have a gun or knife,” Ryan said as she retreated back to her seat in the audience. “I don’t want to get-arrested.”“She’s not the one in-charge,” Tooker said of the woman Ryan referred-to.“You’re correct,” Tooker went-on. “If either myself or Terry was giving false information, we should be fired.”But she insisted that she had been keeping Mayor John O’Leary and the Council members informed about what was really going-on.“Today is Wednesday,” Tooker noted. “We’re in the process of getting a final document to them.“We reviewed everything we sent them, but they still said they needed this, this and that,” she explained. “I can show you.”“I’m not the person you should be answerable-to,” Ryan said. “If Trenton isn’t telling the truth, we shouldn’t have egg on our face. She’s asking for supportive data. She said she never received that supportive data."“The person who’s reviewing our Budget is a male,” Tooker said.“You may think so,” Ryan responded.“By Sept. 24, it (the Budget) must be approved (by the Council),” she stated. “Here it is the first, and we don’t have it yet.”
“We responded, and they came-back and wanted additional information on two or three items,” O’Leary said.The Mayor noted that “the water revenues from Middlesex Water (Co., Iselin) were one.”“If we’re paying Mr. O’Neill, he’s the one who should be here and be accountable,” Ryan declared.“This was just a little miscommunication,” Henry said. “They did ask for a little bit of additional information.”“We gave them the original comments,” Tooker said.“They’re not asking about that,” Ryan said. “They said they asked for more information, and you didn’t supply it.”“I don’t appreciate your saying that I’m lying,” Tooker told Ryan.
“I never said ANYONE is lying,” Ryan countered. “If this just happened Thursday, I can appreciate that.”
Former Councilman Stanley Jankowski, now a Board of Education member, asked if the Budget will be “passed in two weeks.”“Three,” Lanza shot back.“It will be done before then,” Henry said.“You can’t pass it (the Budget) that night,” Jankowski insisted. “You have to have two readings,”“They can do it the same night,” Lanza stated.“Why not just have a special meeting on the Budget?” Jankowski asked. “You could be sitting here for hours.”“Hopefully, that’s not going to happen,” Henry said, before moving-on to another subect and then adjourning the meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment