Rancor and dissent eclipse 'musical chairs' in Montclair's top office

MONTCLAIR ― As an imbroglio over the appointment of a new township manager entered its second month, yet another council meeting was marred by rancor and dissent, with absent officials, accusations lobbied across the dais and two members storming out before a vote could be taken on yet another short-term appointment to the township's highest unelected position.

As Tuesday night's special council meeting began, Municipal Clerk Angelese Bermúdez Nieves distributed a copy of a resolution to appoint Michael LaPolla, a former executive at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, to serves as township manager from Aug. 14 through the end of the year. During that time, LaPolla will receive $10,000 per month for his services with no benefits, the resolution states.

The measure passed with four votes from all remaining Township Council members after Councilors Bob Russo and David Cummings stormed out of the meeting, having voiced frustrations ― not with the appointee, but with the process, which both officials alleged had been tainted by backroom deals and resolutions introduced at the eleventh hour.

First Ward Council Member Bill Hurlock was noticeably ― if not tellingly ― absent from the meeting.

"Has anyone on the council interviewed Mr. LaPolla?" Cummings asked, noting that he had not, and questioning whether any of his council colleagues had, insisting that at best, he and Russo had been shut out of the vetting process, and at worst, the governing body was blindly following the recommendation of the current interim manager, Joseph Hartnett.

Hartnett works as executive managing director of the Government Strategy Group, a municipal consulting firm that provides administrative services to towns lacking a dedicated chief executive, such as Montclair.

After plans to hire GSG to manage the township's operations failed, Hartnett was instead appointed on July 18 to fill the role on a short-term basis, while his firm advised the council on its search for a lasting administrator.

Likewise, Hartnett's firm was tasked with assessing the township's organization after multiple lawsuits alleging a hostile work culture that embroiled former and longtime Township Manager Timothy Stafford in a scandal that has shaken the public's trust in the council and its process to replace him.

Cummings condemned Hartnett's involvement with the search for a new manager while filling the role himself, calling it an overt conflict of interest.

Hartnett acknowledged that Cummings' allegation was a concern of his own before he conferred with Township Attorney Paul Burr, who advised him the conflict was nothing more than optics as long as the firm alone facilitated the search for a new administrator.

Upon speaking with Burr, which Hartnett later acknowledged was after his July 18 appointment to the interim position, he divested himself of any involvement in the consulting work his firm was performing for the township and continued in his capacity as interim manager for the token pay of $1 per week.

Also troubling to the councilors and constituents alike, LaPolla will be the township's third short-term appointment since October, something Russo panned as playing "musical chairs" with Montclair's top office.

Lashing back at Russo and Cummings, and perhaps Hurlock as well, freshman Councilman Peter Yacobellis argued there was no need for theatrics, as personnel matters are "almost always" introduced verbally without a draft resolution prepared, he said during and after the night's turmoil.

"We could have had all seven of us, looked each other in the eye and discussed what we're about to do," Yacobellis said, referring to an executive session planned for Tuesday night, which Russo criticized for keeping the appointment process behind lock and key. He suggested that a select few councilors agreed on LaPolla's appointment while at least three members were out of town.

"Is this a fait accompli, done deal, handed to us now?" Russo asked.

Yacobellis argued that a dissenting vote would do more for constituents and proper governance than forsaking the procedure in whole.

"You're supposed to sit in your seat and do your job no matter what," he said.

In contrast to the drama unfolding on the dais, pleas for civility, transparency and consideration for the township's longtime deputy manager, Brian Scantlebury, were voiced at the lectern during public comment.

Former Board of Education member Jessica de Koninck argued that Scantlebury, who served as acting manager while Stafford was on leave, had been unfairly eschewed by the council without statutory notice that his employment was subject to change.

Hartnett assured residents that he agreed with much of their desire for a candidate with a higher degree in business or policy, more public servant than self-serving, and said Scantlebury was "automatically a finalist for the job, as far as I am concerned."

However, Scantlebury has hardly withstood recent events without some implications made at prior council meetings that he was at least passively culpable in Stafford's alleged misconduct.

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Stafford lawsuits

Stafford was relieved of his office April 28 in a 5-0 vote from all council members present, without Mayor Sean Spiller and Hurlock, who were not at the morning meeting.

Also absent was Stafford himself, who was initially set to contest his termination at the proceeding but had canceled the night before, already having surpassed the statutory 90-day period in which he was allowed to contest his looming ouster.

But Stafford's firing did little to placate residents, who were livid that the council had taken seven months to act on initial allegations brought by township CFO Padmaja Rao, who filed her suit against the embattled administrator in October.

Rao accused her boss of "bellicose, threatening conduct," according to a copy of the complaint, and said she was not the only victim of his "demeaning and derogatory behaviors," which she said also targeted other female department heads.

In her lawsuit, which remains before a Superior Court judge, Rao further alleges that Stafford's abusive conduct was in retaliation for her attempts to blow the whistle on multiple illicit practices. In one such complaint in the suit, Rao says she tried to alert Stafford that council members were enrolled in the township's health plan, despite a law requiring the part-time officials to work 35 hours per week and hold their seats on the dais as their primary jobs in order to receive the public benefits.

The warning elicited "stony silence" from Stafford, she says.

Among other violations alleged in the CFO's complaint, she claims Stafford instructed her to offer a "raise" to a former deputy police chief, who had since retired and was already employed full-time in Florida, eliciting an outburst from the frustrated Stafford, who allegedly pounded a stack of papers in agitation.

Rao's lawsuit has been followed by two more civil actions describing Stafford as an overbearing brute who sought to enforce his will upon the departments he oversaw.

Former Deputy Township Clerk Juliet Lee, who had served in her role since 2013, accused Stafford of similar bullying tactics, such as forcing her to root through her own wastebasket in front of township officials, who witnessed her humiliation without intervening.

Most recently, two Black firefighters filed a third suit claiming “egregious race discrimination” and nepotism by Stafford and the township, alleging he allowed Fire Chief John Herrmann to rewrite the promotional exam to favor his son.

"Our position on behalf of our client is that the claims are without merit and the matter will be adjudicated accordingly," said attorney Eric Bernstein, who is defending Stafford in Lee's case, but he noted that the same comment can be applied to Rao's accusations.

Because Montclair is a Faulkner community, its council is largely a legislative body with the power to make appointments to boards and advisory committees, sometimes referred to as a "weak-mayor" system, while the township manager oversees day-to-day operations within the municipal departments.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rancor and dissent eclipse 'musical chairs' in Montclair's top office