Plainfield Councilor Adrian Mapp, who is the Borough of Roselle's chief financial officer, became the subject of a surprise move at a special meeting of Roselle's borough council on Wednesday.
Scheduled to address temporary funding for the new fiscal year, the legal notice that had originally been prepared to include only items relating to the budget was amended to include an item for a 'shared services agreement'. The Ledger reports on the matter this morning (see here).
Though the Ledger reports the agreement as if it were a done deal, the outcome is far from decided, according to Mapp and Mayor Garrett Smith.
Smith's supporters on the six-member borough council have cried foul, saying the matter should have been taken up by the entire council in the interest of transparency, and then referred to the shared services committee.
Instead, it appears that a series of secret meetings -- without the knowledge of Smith or some council members -- was held over the past several months to craft the proposal.
Questions that are being raised include who the unnamed county officials are who urged the merger, how the so-called savings figure of $647,000 was arrived at, and why it is the smaller town (see Census data here) that is taking over the functions of the larger town (see Census data here).
Unspoken, but very much on everyone's mind, is why Union County officials would want to put a majority white town in charge of the finances of a majority Black town. Some are saying marking Roselle off as the 'wrong side of the tracks' is a form of 'plantation politics'.
Any wrangling over the agreement is likely to involve the Division of Local Government Services, part of the Department of Community Affairs, the state agency which is overseen by Assemblyman Jerry Green's Housing and Local Government Committee.
Readers may recall that Assemblyman Green was on the attack against Mapp throughout the recent Democratic primary -- even though Mapp was challenging Sharon Robinson-Briggs for the mayor's slot and not Green himself -- and that Green actually went over to Roselle during a Council meeting to distribute leaflets against Mapp.
Who are the unnamed 'county officials' spoken of by Smith foe councilwoman Christine Dansereau? Charlotte DeFilippo, head of the Union County Democratic Party? Assemblyman Green? Or others?
Under Stalin in the old Soviet Union, falling out of favor with the political leaders could mean the loss of one's livelihood or worse, with a mere word from the powerful ones.
In America, of course, things are done democratically, and therein lies the difference.
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5 comments:
That is right - anytime anything happens you do not like - go ahead blame Charolette and Jerry.
Fact is Mapp had a history of aconfrontational relationship with the Council He was not transparent. he did not give them the information they wanted.
To 6:06 AM --
Charolette? That's cute.
Where are you getting your information that Mapp was confrontational with the Roselle council? From Charlotte's four members? Or that he did not give them information? Chapter and verse please, oh anonymous know-it-all.
At any rate, the issues are the secrecy and lack of transparency in the matter. Are you really suggesting that Council members should have secret meetings with unnamed County officials to plan the dismantling of the local government without input from other elected officials or the public?
Are you really ready to turn Union County into another Soviet Union? Fine for you if you're happy with who's in charge today, but what kind of song would you be singing if things were different?
Silly, silly sheep...but this is America, and you have a right to be silly...
Let's think about this.
1- A small, white financial community takes over a large, black financial community(to me suggesting that the black community cannot manage itself)
2- The person most affected is someone who ran against Briggs ergo Jerry Green
Anyone see anything smelly about this?
Dan,
This really stinks. Charlotte DeFillippo first went after Al McWilliams, the only BLACK municipal chair in all of Union County in 2005, stripping him of his chairmanship and kicking him off the line to install Jerry Green again and install Sharon as mayor. She goes after McCoy-Oliver in Hillside, she goes after Garrett Smith in Roselle and she goes after Adrian Mapp who works in Roselle. All blacks in majority black population towns. I see a pattern here, where the "uppity" blacks are being replaced with black puppets to consolidate white supremacy. The only ones who would lose jobs are blacks. Independence and self-determination are at stake here for the people of Roselle. To say that Roselle Park with Charlott's puppets will now control the finances of Roselle smacks of overseer/plantation politics. Charlotte DeFillippo currently has a"defense fund" for her possible indictment. Roselle Council President Jamel Holley being investigated for voter fraud in 2007 and now he brings this socalled shared services to the council table without all the council people and the mayor even being AWARE of it? Is this the way to be transparent and accountable to the people of Roselle? Is this the way Charlotte wants things to happen in Plainfield? This is very troubling.
If Jerry & Charlotte's power grabs get out of hand, we may be all be living in "The Plainfields", but atleast we would have an heck of a High School Football team!
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