The Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority held its annual reorganization on Valentine's Day, but 2012 may not be all candy and roses for the authority.
The reorganization left holdover Commissioner Harold Mitchell still in the chairman's seat after two failed attempts to narrow his role to that of an alternate, but new Commissioner Malcolm Dunn still held out that possibility. Commissioner Carol Ann Brokaw stayed afloat as a holdover and secretary of the board, but said she might be stepping down. The clash over $1 million in settlements for Eric Watson and David Ervin pitted Mitchell and Brokaw against Dunn and new Commissioner Cecil Sanders Jr. and, according to executive session minutes just released, generated a complaint that now has the state Office of the Comptroller looking into the matter.
Interim Executive Director Duane Young did not receive a proposed three-year term and a search is ongoing for someone to lead the authority. Watson held the position for more than 15 years and Ervin was his assistant for the same time frame. Ervin declined to step down as the city's representative to the Plainfield Area Regional Sewerage Authority after leaving the PMUA; if, as rumored, he has now done so, that important role must be filled.
Meanwhile, a citizen movement to reform or dismantle the PMUA is gaining steam, most recently with a petition campaign for Gov. Chris Christie's intercession.
How will it all unfold? Here is the meeting calendar for 2012. Count on the usual cadre of PMUA watchdogs to be there and maybe more residents, as the issues of board make-up and control, executive leadership and representation on PARSA are hammered out. But if past practice is any indication, many of these meeting dates will be changed, so be sure to consult the DumpPMUA web site or the PMUA web site for updates.
What happens with the PMUA in 2012 will affect every household in Plainfield. The authority is poised to expand, finally, to operations that will bring in the outside revenue that has been a promise since its inception.
According to Young, its fiscal viability hangs in the balance.
So 2012 could bring solutions to internal money and people problems or not. It could be the year that the state turns its investigative spotlight on the PMUA or that mounting public pressure makes the city actively look at alternative ways to provide solid waste and sewer services to its 16,000 households. For the PMUA in 2012, change will be the only constant.
--Bernice
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Maybe we need to make a commission's position for only a year or two, so we can get rid of the bag eggs, like Dunn and his ilk. Dunn is as self-serving and self-absorbed as he ever was. Too bad for the people of Plainfield, since it appears more about payouts, maybe hoping he'll get one, and not about our pocket books.
ReplyDeleteand all we have to thank for this Bob is your friend Adrian Mapp!
DeleteMapp was recently quoted in the Courier News saying that even knowing Dunn would vote for a Million dollar payout he would still have voted him onto the PMUA Board.
Why do we not hear you speaking about that Bob?
It was interesting to read in the just released PMUA Executive Session minutes that Malcomn Dunn's main concern was whether there was insurance protecting him from being sued.
ReplyDeleteNOW WHY WOULD HE BE WORRIED ABOUT THAT?
From the PMUA minutes. . . .
"Commissioner Dunn asked how much insurance the Board has for the decisions it makes?
Mr Perry (PMUA CFO) replied that there's D and O (Directors and Officers) insurance. . . for 10 million dollars.
Commissioner Dunn asked if he (the CFO) thought 10 million was sufficient for protection of the Board"
Ega Brag
The executive session minutes speak volumes about what transpired here. It's of great interest that those documents be forwarded to the attorney general and the ethics commission. This settlement was so arbitrary. They don't even know how they came up with the dollar amount that was finally given.
DeleteBernice, I just heard recently that Malcom Dunn suggested in a Board of Commissioners meeting on February 14th that every employee at the PMUA take 10 UNPAID furloughed days to pay the million dollars for the previous administration's "settlement". Is that even legal?? Why should the employees have to pay for any of it???
ReplyDeleteI did not hear anything like that at the meeting. If someone else did, please come forward with the information.
Delete