Administration runs off a cliff at Council meeting

Wile E. Coyote was constantly running over a cliff's edge.

Plainfield's City Council meeting on Tuesday reminded me of the old Looney Tunes cartoons, in which the hapless Wile E. Coyote often is found running off a cliff, hanging in the air for a suspenseful moment as the import of what has happened dawns on him, then crashing into the canyon below -- only to repeat the scene in yet another cartoon adventure.

You could have caught that suspenseful realization-while-hanging-in-air moment if you had had a camera with you last night (Alas! I did not, and I think Laurence Rice videocam was aimed in the wrong direction.)

Actually, there were TWO such moments.

The FIRST came with the second reading of Ordinance MC2009-23, intended to EXCEED the budget appropriations limitation for FY2010 and establish a 'CAP bank'.

Councilor Storch had twice warned, most recently at the agenda session last week at Hubbard School, that he thought the ordinance was fiscally irresponsible and that he would vote against it.

With only five Councilors on hand (Reid and Simmons were absent), the Administration should have sensed it was in trouble when the meeting began. The reason is that BUDGETARY VOTES require a two-thirds majority of the FULL GOVERNING BODY, not just those present. That means that FIVE YEA VOTES are needed on budgetary measures.

Predictably, the measure went down.

Ask yourself this -- Knowing of Storch's vote in advance, and knowing that FIVE YEAS were needed, why wouldn't the Administration move heaven and earth to get to the magic number? Did they even try? Did the missing Councilors skip on purpose, knowing what the result would be?

You would need a magic decoder ring to even guess.

Administrator Marc Dashield then opined that the Administration would have to go back to the drawing board, which would delay the offering of the budget proposal. Well, duh.

But who REALLY believed the administration would offer its budget on Tuesday anyway, despite a previous promise?

The SECOND moment of fateful enlightenment came when Councilor Mapp questioned Resolutions 453-09 and 454-09, in which a 'certification of funds availability' was integral.

Saying this certification could ONLY be made by the Chief Financial Officer, a position which needed Council advice and consent, Mapp asked on what basis the certification was being made.

To the assertion of Administrator Dashield that Director of Finance and Administration Bibi Taylor was the 'acting CFO', Mapp asked by what authority, as the Council had not been asked for, nor given, its advice and consent.

Cue camera, catch Dashield and Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson with 'that' look crossing their faces, just before they crash to the canyon floor.

Further discussion uncovered that Mr. Dashield was not quite sure just when the City last had a bona fide CFO that the Council had approved (there had been a part-timer from Bridgewater that the Council had approved a contract for, but she had left at some point -- the exact time of which Dashield was 'not sure' but he thought it may have been February 2009).

This would be laughable except that it casts a pall over all of the financial transactions of the City since the date (whatever!) there last was a legitimate CFO.

Who was signing off in the meantime, Dashield? And by what authority?

Folks, you simply cannot make this stuff up.

Dashield and Williamson allowed as how there would need to be a special meeting of the Council to address the CFO issue, as the issue now stymies everything.

(Councilor Carter brought out that YET ANOTHER resolution, 458-09, regarding a grant for sports equipment funding would also need to be withdrawn.)

To my mind, there are TWO FURTHER QUESTIONS that this whole sorry episode raises --

1. What kind of advice is Mayor Robinson-Briggs getting from Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson that such a glaring oversight could occur? and,
   
   
2. Why, with the ability to conduct its financial affairs hanging in the balance, has the Robinson-Briggs administration not recruited a certified CFO (it's almost a year since the last CFO, Pete Sepelya, retired)?

So, is the Robinson-Briggs administration a Looney Tunes cartoon adventure or just the most inept bumblers in New Jersey?

Or is that the same thing?

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-- Dan Damon

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