photo by David Lopez 

David Lopez a faithful reader CNBNews submitted this photo taken earlier this week on Nicholson Road in Gloucester Heights.

David has the following warning for residents, \”Be careful driving – there are a lot of turkeys on the road!\”

Brown & Connery, llp

By: Christine P. O’Hearn, Esquire 

360 Haddon Avenue

P.O. box 539

Westmont, New Jersey 08108 

(856) 854-8900

Attorneys for Petitioner, The City of Gloucester

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The City of Gloucester (\”The City\”) filed a Complaint seeking removal of Paul Kain (\”Kain\”), Registered Municipal Clerk of The City with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (\”NJDCA\”), Division of Local Government Services on December 9, 2009 due to his chronic and excessive absenteeism and his failure to return from a medical leave and leave of absence. See Exhibit P-1.

 On January 20, 2010, Kain filed an answer and this matter was transferred to the Office of Administrative Law (\”OAL\”). This Court held a hearing on the matter on February 1, 2011. The City now submits this closing brief in support of its petition to remove Kain. For the reasons set forth herein, The City submits that it has established the necessary good cause for removal pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:9-133.7 based upon Kain’s excessive absenteeism, inability to perform his duties and/or job abandonment. 

to be continued Wednesday, February 23, 2011

JEER-To Gloucester City Mayor and Council who continue to accept payments for their health benefits. You are part time officials who volunteered for the positions you hold. Freeholder Damminger said it best, \”We put our residents first, not ourselves. Public service is about service, not about benefits.

CHEER-To the Lady Lions basketball team on their dynamic victory over the Lady Rams in January. Johanna James\’ buzzer shot will go down in history. All the players deserve recognition for their work ethic and cohesiveness as a team. Congratulations also to the leadership of Sean and Joe Gorman.

JEER-To the City of Camden for its plan to raise taxes a whopping 23 percent. For years the Camden politicians have been taking state aid (your tax dollars) to run their City and they never planned for the day when the funds would stop coming. The State and Camden politicians should be booted out of office for their lack of foresight. This large tax increase could have been avoided if those in charge had planned better.

CHEER-A layup early in the first quarter gave Gloucester High School senior Cori Conner her 1,000th career point as the Lions cruised to an 81-22 Tri-County Conference Classic Division victory over Pennsville Jan. 31. 

JEER –Regarding Camden City police layoffs, State Senator Stephen Sweeney said on January 25, \”Camden’s problem is everybody’s problem. Once [the criminals] bleed Camden, you don\’t think they\’re going to be looking at Gloucester City and Westville?\” Sweeney and his fellow Trenton politicians are responsible for the mess in Camden City, no one else. As for the spillover of crime, more political rhetoric. If there are no police patrolling Camden the criminals are going to stay in Camden! 

JEER-Gloucester City Mayor James stated at the January council meeting that he would not tolerate any negative comments against members of the governing body or city employees. In other words you or I will be gagged if we say something that the mayor feels is \”political incorrect.\” President Harry Truman said it best Mr. Mayor, \”If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!\”

JEER-Once again the Gloucester City Public Works Department did a much more thorough job clearing streets on the east side of town than they did on the West side of town. As they have done in the past, the workers did a mediocre job clearing streets between Broadway and King Street. WE are ALL residents of this town and should be treated with the same concern as those who live in the Heights and on the East side of Broadway. ~Signed, Tired of the Discrimination

 CHEER-A Gloucester City Water Works employee replaced my water meter battery in January. He was on-time, even considering it was the day after the big snow storm. More importantly, he was very friendly and didn’t mind the flow of questions coming from my 5-year old Granddaughter, Isabella. He just chugged along while fielding her questions and asking about her snow play. ~A resident

JEER-To Barry Obama for proposing \”investments\” in his SOU to mask his continued, clueless, out of control and irresponsible spending binge. Nice try BO, we’re not as clueless as you are, we get it, you don’t. 

CHEER- Thanks to my son, my guardian angel who has been my main support helping me through my illness. God Bless him. Love MOM

JEER-Gloucester City Mayor and Council recently raised the water and sewer rates. How are the elderly, the unemployed and the disabled going to handle this increase? On top of that they have to worry about the increase in butter, eggs, milk, bread, gas, food and clothing. No cost of living again for these people although the Washington politicians got a pay raise.

CHEER-The Gloucester City Public Works Dept. did a great job on the streets in the snow storms this winter. The streets have been cleaned by morning. Get another cup of coffee guys. 

 CHEER-To Chief of Police George Berglund for his open communication with citizens and his willingness to discuss concerns. I appreciate his respectfulness and the fact that George is easily approachable. 

~Bernadette Gorman

KUDOS-A big cheer for our Gloucester City Police Department. My husband gets up for work at 3 am and the first thing he does is start his car so it will be warmed up. Our doorbell rang and it was a police officer checking to see why the car was running and if everything was okay. It is great to know that these fine gentleman are watching out for us all hours of the day or night. A great big thank you to our police department for doing an outstanding job! Thank you! ~A resident

JEER-To the owners of the Crescent Trailer Park for not even attempting to remove snow from streets during every storm this winter. The residents will be snowed in until the spring thaw.

CHEER-To our neighbors on South Hannevig Ave., Brooklawn for helping us during the snow storm. They dug out both of our cars, and shoveled our sidewalk. We are so thankful to them for their kindness and hard work. An extra cheer for Anthony, Shawn, and Pat, you should get the worlds best neighbor award! Thank you guys so much. ~Earl Foster

 JEER-To those who fail to clean their sidewalks after a snowstorm!! On Browning Road, Bellmawr, where children have to walk in the street to go to school, because Annunciation Church and the vacant Rite-Aid building are never clear. Aren\’t there ordinances on the books to make them obey the law? This is an accident waiting to happen! 

 CHEER-To the people who keep the Bellmawr Fire Department website up to date with detailed incident information, photos and statistics.

CHEER-Thank you to those who helped with this column: Mildred Stubbs, Charles Harry Sharrard, William John, Debra Morse, Earl Foster, Ray DeVoe, Bernadette Gorman, John Hindsley, Mark Matthews

Jentsch stated \”more OPRA request than that will be considered a \”substantial disruption\” of the Clerk\’s functions. Such requests will not be considered \”received\” until all previous requests at two-per day-have been satisfied.\” 

photo Gloucester City Municipal Building

Shortly thereafter Catherine Starghill Executive Director of the Government Records Council for the state of New Jersey informed Jentsch that the City’s recent OPRA policy was in violation of rules. 

To find out why the city clerk was trying to limit the numbers Jentsch was contacted and asked to provide a list of the OPRA’s received in 2010.

Those documents revealed that the City received 127 OPRA requests in 2010. Many of those requests last year came from just two people, Gary Pierce and Michael Walters. Pierce, a fireman, submitted 26 and Walters, 38. Walters, who is a disabled city fireman, ran unsuccessfully for city council last year.

In the first 21 days of January, 41 OPRA’s have been submitted. Twenty-one were received from former municipal clerk/city administrator Paul Kain, and 9 came from Walters. 

 Jentsch was asked whether she felt some of these individuals are making a mockery out of the OPRA law for personal reasons because of all the requests they have filed?

She writes, 

\”When a large percentage of OPRA requests are coming from the same person or same group of people working together, I have to agree with your statement that \”they have taken this law and made a mockery out of it for personal reasons.\”

\”In 2010 31% of the requests received were from Michael Walters and 21% from Firefighter Gary Pierce. Mr. Walters averaged up to 3-5 per day and range from simple to complex. 

\”In 2011 85% of the requests received were from three individuals that I believe are working together. It’s unfair that taxpayers are paying for manpower hours to accommodate these three individuals for their own self interest. 

\”Although I fully support the intention of OPRA, the sheer volume of requests in one year is disruptive. I have done my best to continue to perform all duties of the office of Municipal Clerk but unfortunately my definition of disruptive differs from the Government Records Council.

\” I am not sure that the average person is aware of what it takes to assemble 10 different person’s emails to and from a certain individual within a certain time period. If the requestor would simply ask for exactly what they are seeking instead of conducting a fishing expedition to try to uncover some illegal activity that does not exist.

\”The public also needs to be made aware that if a requestor asks for the information to be sent electronically there is no cost, not even a per page copy cost.

\”As far as your question as to whether any employees are staying late to assist with the abundance of OPRA requests – Because I am the custodian of records it is up to me to make sure all information is provided to the requestor within the statutorily mandated 7 business days. Therefore, the only employee that is working off hours is me. The Clerk’s office is responsible for duties other than OPRA requests and most all are time sensitive thereby the necessity for off hour work.

\”As far as your question on cost to taxpayers – I cannot give you a number but can assure you that the additional time being spent off hours by me is not costing the City a cent.

\”The City website is being upgraded and updated to include 3 years of minutes, agendas, resolutions, ordinances, contracts, etc. My hope is that this will reduce the amount of requests received.

\”The Governing Body, as well as the City Solicitor, have been assigned City email addresses and those email addresses will be released to the public once final set up has occurred.\”

JEER-The City of Gloucester City is increasing the fine for not removing snow/ice from your sidewalk from $25 to $30. Yet days after the recent December snow storm you could still find sidewalks that surround City playgrounds and parks covered with the white stuff. New Years Eve the sidewalk in front of the PAL building on Brown Street was a sheet of ice. If the City is going to fine the public for not shoveling their walks then they should set a better example.

JEER-Council members along with professional municipal employees should be able to answer a question from a resident at a public forum in a civil tone. Raising ones voice and shouting at someone just because you don’t like the individual or the question is simply wrong and disrespectful. Are you so above the people you serve that you forget where you came from? Simply put, if you can’t answer the resident’s question in a civil tone then don’t say anything at all. 

CHEER-\”We would like to publicly thank Patrolman Wall and the Gloucester City Police Department for checking on our store late at night an making sure everything is secure. It is nice to know that you are watching out for us.\” ~Joe and Shirley Bramble, Brambles Cold Cuts

CHEER-Following the Atlantic Street home fire this past month the Gloucester City Irish Society donated $1000 to help the families who loss their possessions as a result of the fire. Clothes and toys were also donated to the families from Bayers Tavern. Who says Gloucester City doesn’t look out for their own! ~Joe Murphy

KUDOS to all the businesses, organizations and residents throughout the area that continually give of their time and money to help make Christmas a little bit happier for those less fortunate.

CHEER-To Kellie and Gary Troxell for their contributions to our community. Troxie\’s is a relative newcomer to Gloucester City and thus far they\’ve had a \”bring in a coat get a free bowl of soup\” event as well as a Giving Tree. Gary has helped me with the ins and outs of business here and he and Kellie have been true friends throughout my husband\’s illness. ~Dawn Watson

CHEER-Glad to see the abandoned Xtra Gas Station at Black Horse Pike and Browning Road, Bellmawr is being demolished. Great improvement. Kudos go out to several other Bellmawr businesses for sprucing up their appearances such as Ed’s Carpet Shop, Bellmawr News.

JEER-To the NJ Civil Service system that allows a tenure employee to be absent from work without an approved excuse and still have the right to a hearing before the Department of Community Affairs. Former Gloucester City Municipal Clerk Paul Kain who was fired by the City in July 2009 for being absent 120 days is seeking his job back. City Solicitor John Kearney said, \”This is another example of our absurd system and how good intentioned ideas can go astray. Protecting career public servants from political pressure has been turned into making it difficult to remove the incompetent\” The December 21 mediation session failed to settle the dispute between the City and Kain. A hearing will be held in Trenton on Feb. 15. Kain is also seeking a financial settlement from the City.

JEER-Another year has passed and members of Gloucester City council continue to accept free health care for themselves and their families paid for by the taxpayers. If they already have insurance they are reimbursed. It cost taxpayers approximately $83,000 annually for this perk.The position of mayor and council member is a thankless job. They give up a lot of their free time to attend meetings. But they knew this when they ran for office. They are accepting paid health care for a job that is part-time, which they volunteered to do. This is the third or fourth time we have asked council to end this practice. If you want to be paid more money for being mayor or council member then pass a resolution increasing your salaries. In these tough economic times when you are asking city employees to sacrifice you should set the example. 

The union representing the firemen/EMT’s in contract negotiations broke off talks with the City in October. As such 8 firemen will be laid off. The last day of work for the firemen will be December 22. 

Kearney said, \”This is perhaps one of the 30 or 40 ideas the Mayor has various folks looking at and this one is very much at the beginning stages. Right now its more of an educational process to understand how this type of operation works and the economics of it. There has been no formal action by Council, nor any public discussion. I expect that this is a fairly long way from conclusion and right now no-one has any idea as to what that conclusion might be. The union lawyer (David Wolf) had tried to get the arbitrator down (to Gloucester City) early to get this worked out but the first date we got was in February. It is a real shame that this has to happen.\”

 Municipal Clerk Kathy Jentsch was asked whether or not the City has advertised for proposals to provide ambulance service and she said no.

 Gloucester City joins a long list of communities across the state that are laying off police and firemen because of budget restraints and the recession. 

Nearby Camden City is proceeding with its plans to lay off 180 uniformed positions in the police department out of 373 position. The city\’s layoff plan also calls for the reduction of an additional 33 nonuniform positions. The Fire Department could lose about a third of their work force or 67 positions out of 220.

Camden, a violent city, has seen 37 homicides this year. A national survey recently named Camden the second-most dangerous in the United States, although police officials have pointed to some recent reductions in crime.

This past week the City of Newark laid off 167 of its 1,034 police officers after negotiations broke down between their union and the city. Cities and towns around New Jersey are struggling this year following cuts in state aid, with layoffs in public safety increasingly common.

\”The answer is no, we are not.

\”Recent newspaper articles and television reports have made it clear that the only alternative to steadily increasing property taxes is cuts in services. With budgetary spending caps, prohibited by law, the past practice of handing out generous pay raises and health benefit packages to public employees is gone, municipalities across the state are being forced to tighten their belts and do more with less and in Gloucester City it is no different.\”

Following the breakdown in negotiations in October Jerry Hubbs, a spokesperson for the local FMBA issued a prepared statement which reads in part, 

 \” Comparisons show FMBA Locals 51 and 251 have offered the steepest concessions of any union in New Jersey. We have also received accolades from various writers and editors regarding our attempt to retain current staffing in lieu of concessions.

\”Through these concessions progress was achieved and a tentative agreement between the firefighters and city officials was reached June 30th. This agreement was short-lived, as the mayor and members of city council reneged on the agreement. The Mayor and Council refused to agree to a clause that guarantees no layoffs in the fire department for one year.

\”The mayor and city council now say that they will not only refuse to sign the contract, but will layoff 12 firefighter/EMTS instead of the earlier proposed eight. The Firefighters and Fire Officers will now take the same stand as all the other negotiating unions of the City and have a professional mediator/arbitrator decide the conclusion of the contract.\”

Kearney said today (Thursday December 2, 2010 ), \” City Council absolutely agreed to the no layoff provision in light of the concessions. The savings from those concessions were what paid for the to be laid off employees. What Council never agreed to, and will not agree to, is the Union demand to include minimal staffing requirements. That is the issue which broke this deal. Part of the future planned savings in the deapartment is shrinkage by attrition and the clause sought by the Union would forbid that from happening. Simply put there would have to be layoffs. The City is agreeable to guarantee no layoffs for the contract term but will not agree to minimal staffing.\” 

 Municipal employees are not the only profession effected by the recession. The Press of Atlantic City reported today (Thursday) that Trump casinos laid off 250 employees on Wednesday and Shore Memorial Hospital is planning to eliminate 90 positions or 6 percent of its 1600 employee work force.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent and has been essentially unchanged since May. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men (9.7 percent), adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (27.1 percent),whites (8.8 percent), blacks (15.7 percent), and Hispanics (12.6 percent).

 Related articles