The Northvale Republican-led Borough Council completed the last round of professional appointments last week, but not without an outcry from the Democratic minority.
Democrats accused the Republicans of self-serving and misguided politics. The appointments, said Democrats, include an auditor with alleged corruption charges and political party contributors.
But Republicans said that the appointments were based on experience and not political qualifiers.
"I give way my appointment power because we’re at the 11th hour, and it makes no sense to hold off any longer," said Democratic Mayor John Hogan. "I don’t think [the Republicans] lived up to the voters’ expectations. I think it’s a disappointing time for Northvale and we’ll [Democrats] keep an eye on these appointments."
The Council appointed the following seven professionals: Elizabeth Randall as borough attorney; Steven Wielkotz as borough auditor; Steven Rogut as bonding attorney; Joseph Pojanowski as tax appeal attorney; Arcadis BBL with Joe Hochreiter as special consultant for environmental engineer; Virginia Forde as risk manager; and Christopher Martin as borough prosecutor.
Hogan said that he questioned the appointment of borough attorney Randall because she "did serve with Assemblyman John Rooney (R-39) and is the last sitting Republican [Bergen County] freeholder for the last year."
Other similar appointments point to Republican campaign dollars funneled from risk manager Forde of McCarthy and Forde and Arcadis BBL, the former environmental engineer prior to Remington and Vernick.
Prominent Republican contributor Pojanowski, for instance, donated more than $6,000 to Republican campaigns such as those of Rooney and Assemblyman Gerald Cardinale (R-39).
Democratic Councilman Pat Marana cautioned the council against hiring Wielkotz as borough auditor. He said that the appointment could expose Northvale to an audit failure similar to that of Dumont.
Dumont borough officials partially blamed Weilkotz for a 2005 fiscal upset that left $1.2 million in unreported expenditures. Several Dumont officials believed that Wielkotz, Dumont auditor at the time, buried the town’s financial woes in order to protect the Republican officials who appointed him.
"The next auditor had to, functionally, act as the town’s financial manager until that auditor suggested that the town allow themselves to be taken over by Trenton," Marana outlined in a letter.
Republican council members argued that the new hires should not be overlooked due to politics and rumor.
"I don’t think you should limit them possibly for political and contractual reasons," said Republican councilman Roy Sokoloski, in support of the new environmental engineer. "I think that when you have that kind of expertise, it would be a crime not to go on that."
