It is now more than a month since former Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson left City Hall to become executive director of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority. The position as head of the city's in-house legal department is still listed as vacant on the city web site.
Given the responsibilities of the office (legal advisor to the mayor and City Counsel, drafting all legislation and agreements for the city, providing legal representation for the city in all matters, advising all administrative departments and boards and commissions except for the land use boards), it is hard to understand why no one has been named to be in charge. Williamson's term was concurrent with that of the mayor, meaning the vacancy spans 18 months to Dec. 31, 2013.
City Solicitor David Minchello has appeared in Williamson's stead in recent weeks, as provided by the Municipal Code, which allows for him to serve in this capacity "temporarily" in Williamson's absence. But Williamson is not just absent for a meeting or two, he is gone.
Given the burden of responsibility outlined in the Municipal Code, it is hard to imagine the city can just wing it for a year and a half. Anyone stepping in, even someone who has worked closely with Williamson, will need time to get a grip on all the pending cases and all the legal needs of the administration and governing body.
The city is already experiencing a kind of drift with no chief financial officer and other key vacancies. The city administrator and one of the three department heads each have less than one year's experience in Plainfield. Lack of a chief legal advisor can only add to the instability.
The City Council does not meet again until Aug.13 for an agenda-fixing session and the regular meeting will follow on Aug. 20. Perhaps by then someone will be named to head the in-house legal department. The scope of this office may not be visible to the average observer of city government, but it is certainly one of the most important functions of city government.
Meanwhile, if you want to follow Williamson's progress at the PMUA, the August meeting of the authority has been rescheduled from 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, to 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17. See details here.
--Bernice
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Copied straight from the New Plainfield City Website less than a minute ago!
ReplyDeleteCorporation Counsel
Daniel A. Williamson, Esq.
515 Watchung Avenue
Plainfield, NJ 07060
Fax 908-226-4903
Email : dan.williamson@plainfieldnj.gov
People get what they voted for with this mayor. She should stick to running bake sales, as she's proven that she cannot run a city government. Thank God this is her last term and we can move on and get someone who has a grasp of what the needs of the city are.
ReplyDeleteIt is unconscionable that the PMUA would schedule a public meeting at this time. Friday, August 17 at 3:00 pm? Shameful.
ReplyDeleteRebecca
Guess what folks, the entitled will elect her or one of simular type again and again.
ReplyDeleteMr. Williamson brings an aura of elegance and refinement to his new job. He brings the erudition that accompanies a man who has practiced law, and principally Municipal law, his entire career. Given these attributes the bar is raised as to his performance. Will he spend the next 3 years performing in a perfunctory manner, or will he use his wealth of experience to streamline the PMUA...streamline defined as lowering rates? Scheduling the PMUA meeting on Friday at 3:00pm, and hanging around at a fund raiser at Hugo's augers badly.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know whether Mr. Williamson feels the Commissioners had the authority to intervene in the Arbitration proceeding and award a million dollars to the retirees? Where are the words in the enabling documents that establish this broad authority. And, if Mr. Williamson identifies those words, the next question is what is the limitation,if any, to the Commissioner's largesse? For example, if the next disgruntled retiree sues the PMUA for $10,000,000 and the dispute is Arbitrated, can the Commissioners authorize a settlement of say, $5,000,000? Or the suite is for $100,000,000 and the settlement $50,000,000?
Reductio ad absurdum Mr. Williamson. You,as an attorney, ought to know what that means. Looking forward to your reply. Bill Kruse
Bill, you're too kind. Williamson has a history of obstructing transparency, editing out legal statutes that are inconvenient, and handing campaign loot to his political patrons, the mayor and the assemblyman. In all likelihood he perjured himself in court documents filed on behalf of the city in the Charles v. PMUA lawsuit, and I expect he is now an accomplice to the PMUA commissioners in the theft of excess compensation in clear violation of our municipal code and state law. In other words, he's in the right place; carrying water for public officials who abuse the public.
ReplyDeleteIt sure seems fishy they're holding a 3PM meeting. I wonder what they're trying to sneak in. It could be they're fine-tuning their strategy for paying off the quitters. A recent OPRA request indicated PMUA was to pay the city about $1.6 million for the sewer lease, but I see from the photo-op on PMUA's website that figure as been whittled down to just under #1.4 million. Maybe everyone's pocket is being picked, even the city's, to make good on the settlement.
Williamson, who gave his blessing to an illegal job training contract the city gave to Malcolm Dunn's Incubator, now is in the less-than-enviable position of having represented both sides in the on-going subversion of the Inter Local Agreement.
Absurd is the word.
I don't have any faith in Dan Williamson.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe Mr. Williamson is a very capable individual, as he often demonstrated during his tenure as Corporation Counsel; it was also very obvious, on a number of ocassions, he was not able to carry out his job in an impartial manner, often seeming more like private counsel for Robinson-Briggs instead of counsel for the City of Plainfield.
Mr. Williamson became an active participant in the Plainfield political machine and all the non-sense that comes along with it, and he was rewarded with his new job at the PMUA.
I don't believe that Mr. Williamson, as the new Director of the PMUA, will be able to fairly act in the best interest of all Plainfield residents and contribute to the greater good of Plainfield as a whole. He has too many friends surrounding him and too many people counting on his support to keep the PMUA going full force into the pockets of those of us who keep them gainfully employed.
I hope I'm proved to be wrong.