FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT:Jacob Magiera, ChairThe Concerned Citizens Of Roselle ParkPhone: (908) 998-1300Fax: (908) 967-5160info@rp-citizens.orgwww.rp-citizens.org
L
OCAL
G
ROUP
C
ONTINUES
F
IGHT
T
O
G
ET
T
AXPAYER
I
NFORMATION
F
ROM
M
UNICIPALITY
Roselle Park, NJ - August 1, 2011 — The Concerned Citizens Of Roselle Park are pursuinga legal course of action after having been met with resistance from Roselle Park’s mayorand council when the Borough denied two (2) OPRA (Open Public Records Act) requests.The municipality initially denied requests to provide a copy of the settlement agreementbetween the Borough and Monica Montoya. In 2007, Ms. Montoya was arrested forobstruction and resisting arrest after helping police translate for a woman who was struckby a vehicle. Ms. Montoya brought a lawsuit against the municipality after the chargesagainst her were dropped. Additionally, the municipality has demanded a $400 minimumfee to provide the Concerned Citizens Of Roselle Park with a simple export file from theBorough’s accounting software.On July 14, 2011, the governing body agreed through a resolution to pay the boroughattorney’s office $5,000 to fight the group’s OPRA requests. Mayor Joseph Accardi stated,“We feel firmly that we are doing the right thing by expending taxpayer dollars to defendourselves in this matter.”This amount is twice what mayor & council recently agreed to pay to look into re-openingnegotiations with AvalonBay Communities, a developer that sued the Borough under aBuilder’s Remedy lawsuit in 2007.Jake Magiera, the chair of the Concerned Citizens Of Roselle Park, commented on themunicipality’s refusal to provide information, “When our government fails to abide by thelaw, then there are no laws for the people to follow. We don’t understand why our mayor& council are willing to spend taxpayer dollars to deny information on how tax dollars arebeing spent.”On July 26, 2011, the municipality disclosed the settlement agreement between MonicaMontoya and the Borough of Roselle Park to the Concerned Citizens of Roselle Park,through their attorney Walter Luers. “We are glad that one of our OPRA requests havebeen provided,” Chair Jacob Magiera stated, “We are hopeful that the municipality willcomply with our remaining request regarding information on Roselle Park taxpayer dollars.”# # #A brief Q&A is attached which provides further background and detail on the matter.
Q
UESTIONS
&
A
NSWERS
R
EGARDING
T
HE
C
ONCERNED
C
ITIZENS OF
R
OSELLE
P
ARK V
.
T
HE
B
OROUGH
O
F
R
OSELLE
P
ARK
July 31, 2011Is it true that the Concerned Citizens of Roselle Park are suing the Borough? Why?
Yes, The Concerned Citizens of Roselle Park have filed a lawsuit because the organizationbelieves that the municipality has violated the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and thecommon law right of access on two (2) occasions.The first instance happened when the municipality refused an OPRA request for thesettlement agreement between the municipality and Monica Montoya. The municipalityclaimed that the agreement is not in the Borough’s possession. We believe that the NewJersey Joint Insurance Fund (NJJIF) was acting as an agent for the Borough and that themunicipality, not NJJIF, has the responsibility to provide the requested information.The second instance occurred when the organization requested a simple export of themunicipality’s check register to an electronic format from the Munidex software program.An initial request was made where the organization asked for just the check register to beprovided in electronic format. The municipality returned with a demand to have theConcerned Citizens of Roselle Park provide a minimum $400 deposit because themunicipality claimed it would require additional work to retrieve that specific informationfrom what they called a ‘data dump’, which is a simple exporting of all information to acomputer file. The organization returned and asked for the ‘data dump’ so it could do all theadditional work. The municipality returned with the same demand of a $400 deposit.We feel that government should be open, accountable, and transparent and our requestsare aimed to further that belief since what we are asking for concerns taxpayers’ money.
Is it true you are going to cost taxpayers $5,000? I thought you were supposed tohelp the residents, not hurt them.
During the July 14
th
Mayor & Council meeting, Resolution 160-11 was put on the agendaand the governing body voted and agreed to budget $5,000 to fight our requests. Theoriginal request for the resolution was made by the Borough Clerk and the amount originallyrequested was up to $10,000.The final amount of $5,000 was voted to unanimously by council representatives LarryDinardo, Marc Caswell, Tanya Torres, Modesto Miranda, and Carl Hokanson. As a matterof reference, this amount is twice the amount that the governing body approved to re-opennegotiations with AvalonBay Communities. Even though Mayor Joseph Accardi was notrequired to vote on Resolution 160-11, he nevertheless commented on the issue, “We feelfirmly that we are doing the right thing by expending taxpayer dollars to defend ourselvesin this matter.”
- more -
T h e C o n c e r n e d C i t i z e n s o f R o s e l l e P a r k
Post Office Box 144Roselle Park, NJ 07204www.rp-citizens.org(908) 998-1300
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Press Release (August 1, 2011)
Roselle Park
310
Reads
0
Readcasts
794
Embed Views
Get Scribd Mobile
To get Scribd mobile enter your number and we'll send you a link to the Scribd app for iPhone & Android.We've sent a link to the Scribd app. If you didn't receive it, try again.
We'll never share your phone number.
Recommended
More From This User
Notes
Load more
