Petition blocked by town

By Nathan Mayberg
VERNON — A petition with 875 signatures that would have given voters a chance to decide if the township mayor deserves a $6,000 raise, was blocked by the Township Council Monday night, Aug. 10.

Two council members voted against allowing the petition, resulting in the measure being stopped.

Councilwoman Jean Murphy protested the vote over what she called a gag order sent to council members by Township Clerk Laura Kirkman with an attachment from Township Attorney John Ursin.

Voting against forwarding the petition for a voter referendum were council President Patrick Rizzuto and Councilman Dick Wetzel.

Councilman Brian Lynch was absent.

Councilman Dan Kadish was the lone councilman to approve the measure.

Marotta's $6,000 raise to $36,000 was approved in June by the council, but has been opposed by the Vernon Taxpayer's Association and former Mayor Sally Rinker, who is one of two confirmed candidates challenging Marotta in the November election.

The validity of the petition was questioned after Kirkman provided information to the council concerning questions regarding the validity of the registrations of certain petition signers, Ursin said.

Murphy said the letter sent by Kirkman had an attachment from Ursin in which he discussed the numbers in dispute.

The letter sent Friday stated the memo was "privileged and confidential," Murphy said.

"It's not to be shared with the public," was what the letter read according to Murphy. The letter also asked that council members refrain from debating the petition's signatures.

Kirkman did not return a message seeking comment.

Murphy said Ursin was leaving it up to the council to decide whether to validate the signatures.

Ursin said 800 valid signatures were needed by registered voters in the town but that out of the 875 signatures on the petition, there were "approximately 50" signatures by unregistered voters and additional questions about the registrations of other voters since their addresses on the petition didn't match with their addresses on file with the Sussex County Board of Elections.

"He is wrong," said Rinker, who helped organize the petition and disputed the number of signatures required.

Rinker said only 777 signatures were needed and that there were enough valid signatures on the petition.

In order for a petition to go on the ballot before voters, five percent of registered voters in the town need to sign the petition.

Ursin said the town was using a figure of 16,005 registered voters in the town.

According to the Sussex County Board of Elections on Tuesday, there are 15,352 voters registered in the town.

While those figures change daily, Rinker said she was using a closer figure of 15,334 registered voters.

That would mean a threshold of 777 voters would be required to sign the petition.

"We should have accepted (the petition)," Murphy said.

Rinker questioned whether the vote taken by the council was appropriate since the vote on the petition did not include language regarding how the raise for Marotta would be retroactive to January and how his full-time status would be approved retroactive to 2011, she said.

Marotta said he is already working full-time though it was not formally approved by the council.

He accused Rinker of orchestrating a "political campaign."

"I'm doing the job as mayor," he said.

Marotta said he has "stayed completely away" from the process of determining his raise.

As far as the allegations of silencing a debate between council members, Marotta said that was a matter of confidentiality between the board and the town's attorney. It didn't involve him, he said.

Ursin said the question about whether to approve the raise was the most important part of the ballot question, and the timing of the retroactivity was not necessary.

The ballot question should be "as simple as possible," Ursin said.

"The outcome was pre-planned," Rinker said of the council's actions, indicating that 875 people were disenfranchised.

Murphy said she hopes that people "take it to the polls" rather than filing another lawsuit.

"Enough with the fighting," she said.