(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)
PERTH AMBOY — No member of the City Council voted in-favor of awarding a
three-year, $293,356 contract last week for animal-control services offered by
Happy Home Shelter Inc., whose Acting Director, local businesswoman Wilma
Matey, was on-vacation.
Under advice of City Law Director Mark Blunda, Councilmen William Petrick
and Kenneth Gonzalez — who moved and seconded the measure for discussion
purposes — abstained from voting on it to avoid “the appearance of a potential
conflict-of-interest.”
The Council’s three other members — Councilmen Fernando Gonzalez and Joel
Pabon and Council President Kenneth Balut — all voted “no.”
The “appearance of a potential conflict-of-interest” arose because of a
backyard barbecue held at the Water Street home of Matey, which she
maintained was a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
However, resident Alan Silber countered that the party was identified as a
“campaign rally” on the website of Moving Forward Together, a campaign
ticket in the May 2010 election consisting of Council candidates Petrick, Kenneth
Gonzalez and Maria Garcia.
The city’s strict “pay-to-play” regulations are now applicable to Petrick
and Gonzalez as Council members.
Matey, who has rounded-up many enthusiastic volunteers, has been seeking to
take-over operation of the city’s Shelter from the two ACOs for almost a
year, but the Council had taken no action, withdrawing the proposed Resolution
from its meeting-agenda on multiple occasions.
At the Council Caucus held the Monday before last week’s meeting, Fernando
Gonzalez angrily-questioned its inclusion on the list of active Resolutions.
“Why is this resurfacing again?” he asked. “We said we weren’t going-to
award anything.”
“A bid has been received,” Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach
explained. “You have to take a vote as a body.”
Neither Fernando Gonzalez nor Balut went-into-detail about why they cast
negative votes, but Pabon said he voted to reject the proposal because of
“unanswered questions.”
The Happy Home proposal was submitted by Matey after the Council rejected
an earlier proposal by Woodbridge Township to take-over the city’s
animal-control services, as it had done for Carteret and South Amboy.
The Council’s action last week left the operation of the Perth Amboy Animal
Shelter, Fayette Street, in the hands of retired police officer Richard
Cielesz and his wife, Michal, both certified Animal Control Officers (ACOs),
under Police Department supervision
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