Two people for one seat: How this Bergen County town botched filling a council vacancy

Two people were sworn in for one vacant Palisades Park council seat, leaving a divided council waiting for a judge to make a ruling next week on who acted correctly.

The unprecedented move resulted from in-house fighting in the new year over quorums, canceled meeting dates and interpretations of state law.

Questions and arguments center on whether a Jan. 31 meeting was properly advertised, whether there was a legal quorum for the meeting that did occur, and the legal timelines for who is allowed to make the decision on the vacant seat: the Democratic County Committee or the majority of the council.

State Superior Court Judge Peter Geiger will have a hearing to show cause on Feb. 16 at 1:30 p.m. in Hackensack.

How it happened

A council vacancy was created when Democratic Councilman Chong "Paul" Kim won a mayoral election in November 2022.

At the Jan. 3 reorganization meeting, Palisades Park Democratic County Committee Chair James Rotundo said, he submitted a letter to the mayor and council and read out loud during the public meeting the names of the three people submitted to fill the seat: himself, Suk Min and Arlene Star.

However, the majority of the council tabled the motion to select from the list of submitted candidates, to allow for further discussion. Three council members believe the Democratic County Committee actions are void because a letter submitting the three names for consideration was dated Dec. 28, 2022, before Kim officially resigned from his council seat. Based on timelines and advice from special counsel, on Jan. 31 they voted and swore in Democratic former Councilman Andy Min, who was not on the list of recommendations to fill the seat.

The Democratic County Committee believes the council did not act properly, and the committee swore in Suk Min to fill the council seat the next day.

Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, said the swearing-in of two people for one vacant seat is something you just don't see happen.

“This is a pretty rare occurrence, and I can't think of another case like this," Rasmussen said. "Unfortunately, the people of Palisades Park are the ones left in limbo and questioning who their elected representatives are.

"There is plenty of blame to go around, as each side is trying to game the other, putting their political interests ahead of the public’s interest,” he said.

Was there a legal meeting?

The next scheduled meeting was Jan. 31, which may or may not have been canceled. A notice was posted on the borough's Facebook page stating that the Jan. 31 meeting was canceled due to the lack of a quorum and that a special council meeting would take place Feb. 3.

Council President Cynthia Pirrera commented on the Facebook message that it was incorrect information and that the meeting did have a quorum, with three of five council members, and she invited the public to join them.

“Best practice is whenever there is any question at all on public notice, if something was written incorrectly or not published on the right day, is to re-notice,” Rasmussen said. “When in doubt, put out another public notice. When that doesn’t happen, that should raise a red flag of what the intentions are, of who is cutting that corner and why.”

Borough Attorney John Schettino gave his legal opinion that there was a quorum and that a legal meeting was taking place.

Schettino said that at the Jan. 3 reorganization meeting when Pirrera asked to move the meeting to Jan. 31, everyone agreed.

“The mayor does not have the right to unilaterally cancel a meeting that was by resolution approved by the governing body,” Schettino said. “Attempts were made that did lead to confusion, but statutes do not give that right to the mayor unless there’s an emergency. Therefore, this is a validated scheduled meeting of the governing body.”

However, Schettino advised the council to limit its actions and warned that a judge would have to intervene and make a final decision.

He also said he believed a quorum existed with three council members because there was a vacant seat, making the majority three, instead of four. Council members Pirrera, Stephanie Jang and Jae Park were in attendance.

Schettino said it was the council members' responsibility to fulfill their oath of office and attend meetings and not "intentionally not attend a council meeting in order to prevent a quorum."

Two for one

When a council vacancy is created, state law allows the county committee of the party for that seat to submit three names to the council from which to select to fill it.

Palisades Park special counsel attorney Steven Kleinman of Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs LLC told the present council members on Jan. 31 that the county committee had 15 days to submit names once a vacancy was created and that he believed the committee failed to meet that requirement, because the names were submitted on Dec. 28, before Kim resigned. Kleinman said there was no further communication from the committee.

After Kim was sworn in as mayor, Rotundo made a public statement to the council and said what names the committee was submitting for consideration.

Kleinman also advised the council that if it did not act within 30 days of the resignation, it might lose the right to fill the vacancy.

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"It's unfortunate to me that the mayor and two council members did not show up tonight," Pirrera said before announcing that the present members would vote for Andy Min to fill the vacancy. "I thought we could have dealt with this, especially in light of misinformation and improper action by the mayor and other employees in attempts to cancel this meeting."

She also accused the mayor and other council members of "weaponizing" quorums and violating their oath of office.

“There is a lot of nitpicking here,” Rasmussen said in analyzing the actions. “It seems like they were looking for an excuse or reason to not accept the intention of the party.”

Andy Min was sworn into office on Jan. 31. The next day, Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs LLC filed a complaint in state Superior Court on behalf of Pirrera, Jang, Park and the Borough Council naming Kim, Councilman Jason Kim, Councilman Michael Vietri and the Democratic County Committee of Palisades Park as defendants.

That same day, the Democratic committee met to fill the vacancy, stating that the Borough Council had failed to act on the list of submitted names within 30 days. Suk Min was selected and immediately sworn into office, according to court documents.

Kim, the mayor, called the litigation "frivolous" and asked the council members to drop it immediately.

“We cannot allow three council members to hold on to power by scandalously preventing a fellow council member from participating in the decision-making process,” Kim said. “Councilman Suk 'John' Min was properly selected to serve on the council, and it is our responsibility to uphold the will of the people and ensure that he is able to exercise his right to vote. There is a significant effort by outsiders and the borough attorney to keep Councilman Suk 'John' Min from voting."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Palisades Park NJ open Borough Council seat leads to confusion