Attorney Appointment For Ciba Suit Raises Questions

Editor’s Note: This meeting took place before the July 15th, 2024 session. The material contained in this story is related to the June 26, 2024 meeting.

TOMS RIVER – Some residents have been questioning whether an attorney hired to represent the town in a lawsuit has a conflict because of other work he has done for the mayor.

Councilman James Quinlisk asked a collective question to his fellow council members during a recent Township Council meeting. He asked if they knew before voting to hire attorney Donald F. Burke during a prior meeting that Burke had also represented Mayor Daniel Rodrick in a personal matter between himself and the Middletown School District where he is employed as a school teacher.

Council Vice President Lynn O’Toole responded “no.” Other members of the council either didn’t reply or said “no.”

Burke’s firm was hired in May to represent the town in a suit to make Ciba-Geigy pay for environmental damages from decades of pollution. Councilmen Quinlisk, Thomas Nivison and David Ciccozzi voted against that hiring.

Nivison had questioned the qualifications and potential conflicts of Burke, who was ultimately hired and will receive up to $50,000 to represent the township, which appealed the state’s settlement with BASF, owner of the Ciba property off Route 37 and Oak Ridge Parkway.

Assistant Township Attorney Peter Pascarella stated that two firms had responded to a request for proposals to represent Toms River, and Burke’s firm was chosen.

Rodrick defended the hiring saying Burke was an experienced lawyer who had previously litigated natural resource damage cases and had successfully argued many cases before the state Supreme Court and the Appellate Division. Nivison, Quinlisk and Ciccozzi said they saw this hiring as a potential conflict of interest.

Council Meetings On YouTube

During the meeting a resident inquired why the live streamed township meetings posted to YouTube kept vanishing shortly afterwards or why they weren’t available on the township website. Council President Craig Coleman said, “I’m going to look into that.”

“That’s what you said during the last meeting,” was the response from residents in the audience.

As of press time, the June meeting is still online. Besides this, the only other meetings online from this year are from January.

At the June meeting, the council voted on a motion to keep them online and it passed.

Lack Of Decorum

Decorum at council meetings has been missing all year and the most recent meeting didn’t show any improvement.

One resident insulted Councilman Justin Lamb for writing a social media post accusing a veteran – and former elected official – of stolen valor. Another resident accused Lamb of having a family member terminate his lifeguard position in Lavallette. Lamb is a police officer in Lavallette and his father Robert is a councilman.

Business Administrator Jon Salonis was called a “toadie” and Mayor Rodrick suggested resident Phil Brilliant, a frequent critic of the mayor, get an additional job or new hobby as he seemed to have a lot of time of his hands. This was in reference to a long letter that Brilliant had sent to the mayor and council about various township issues.

Residents Removed From Meeting

Three members of the public were removed from the meeting including Paul Williams who has been escorted from several earlier council meetings. Williams has been taping the meetings so they can be viewed once the regular live stream recordings are removed.

Craig Saltarelli who spoke in opposition of the mayor’s closure of the Toms River Animal Shelter was also told to leave by Council President Craig Coleman during the public comment period. Coleman directed a woman from the audience to be escorted out by the police but she told him “don’t bother I am not staying anyway.”

Coleman said he would be keeping members of the public to speaking no more than three minutes and said he had received criticism from several residents for not closely adhering to that rule when it came to certain individuals during the last meeting. He apologized for that and said he’d be more diligent from now on.

One Moment Of Unity

The governing body demonstrated one unified moment early in the session when they came together to recognize Eagle Scouts Michael Becker and Luke Lotter of Boy Scout Troop 20 and Thomas Miller Boy Scout Troop 59. The mayor and council presented each of the scouts framed proclamations for their Eagle Scout projects.