Jeffas: Expand Pay-to-Play
Mar 12th, 2010 | By Greg Hazley | Category: Council Meetings, On tap, SecaucusWrapping up this week’s brisk meeting of the mayor and council, calls by a councilman and former mayor to expand the town’s pay-to-play ordinance, fire equipment donation to the Dominican Republic, concern over the sale of Meadowlands Hospital and a set schedule for televising the meetings…
Gary Jeffas (file photo)
First Ward Secaucus Councilman Gary Jeffas said he is beginning a push to expand the town’s eight-month-old “pay to play” ordinance to limit developers from donating to political candidates.
Jeffas spoke of his plans at Tuesday night’s brief meeting of the mayor and council.
The current pay to play ordinance, passed in late July 2009, curbs contributions from business entities or individuals doing business with Secaucus to $300.
It was an FBI informant posing as a developer that brought on last summer’s political scandal leading to the resignation of then-Mayor Dennis Elwell.
Former Mayor Richard Steffens said Tuesday night that he would like the restriction to be widened to four years instead of the current two-year required time frame between a political donation and eligibility to do business with the town.
Jeffas said he’ll be working on the issue over the next few weeks to eventually propose either amending the existing ordinance or introducing another measure.
HOSPITAL CHANGES: Resident Anthony Aiello spoke passionately of the need to do everything possible to keep Meadowlands Hospital in town as it changes ownership and transitions to a for-profit entity.
Aiello called the institution “one of the most important aspects of our town” and noted the loss of previous iconic places like the old diner on Paterson Plank Road and the Acme Supermarket.
The council last month passed a resolution requesting that a town representative take part in the sale approval process by the state Department of Health and Senior Services and attorney general.
Scores of Secaucus residents (including union leader Joann Dudsak) work at the hospital and fear for their jobs amid a transition.
The buyer, MHA LLC, has said it intends to hire “substantially all of the current employees.”
Mayor Mike Gonnelli wrote to both the attorney general and the commisioner of the DHSS (PDF of letter) to express “interest and concern” in the sale process and requesting several documents related to the transaction.
Gonnelli said Tuesday night that he has not yet heard back from Trenton.
TV SCHEDULE: As meetings of the mayor and council have begun to be televised the week after they occur, the schedule will be: Monday and Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Thurday and Saturday, 1 p.m. The meetings air on Comcast channel 36.
D.R. DONATION: Second Ward Councilman Jim Clancy said the Secaucus Fire Department was able to donate 34 of its old “Scott” packs to emergency services personnel in the Dominican Republic through a non-profit program. The fire department recently acquired 95 new breathing packs, which are named after the Scott Co. that makes them. The old packs were no longer up to code for use in the U.S.
CLOCK IT: The quick public meeting lasted 33 minutes.
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Gary Jeffas will be tough to beat in Novemeber. He is someone who is trust worthy and his only focus is to do the right thing. His potential opponents, Rich Kane, Dawn McAdam, Joe Morano and Robert Zich can not say the same thing. Jeffas is truley independent and that is a good thing for the people of Secaucus. Keep up the good work Gary Jeffas!!
It is great to finally see the meetings on TV. The school board should take a hint and begin to televise their meetings, especially with everything that is happening lately. They have their own TV channel (34) and a local company that is already working with the town to produce the council meetings. It is time to make their meetings easily accessible as well.
Good idea George. Lets get the school board on TV as well. They only meet once a month I think.
That’s a great idea about televising BOE meetings…….with the majority of our tax money going to the schools, we have a right to see what is going on in these meetings and how the money is being spent. And Joe, you are also right about Gary Jeffas….he is as honest as they come.
I agree. I’d love to watch the school board meetings on TV. And it seems Jeffas is doing a fine job.
It seems like in some of the pictures Greg uses on his articles, there is already a camera at the meetings. Or is that some kind of media?
Broadcasting board of ed meetings seems like it would be a great idea….there seems to be a lot more controversy then there has been in the past and the public/taxpayers should have access to the discussions.
On the subject of doing a fine job, I think it’s time to commend esecaucus for a wonderful service they are offering residents. I find the articles fair and unbiased and it’s nice to see the truth printed, good and bad. I’m tired of reading our “local” paper that makes it seem like we live in Pleasantville USA where there is never anything other than happy news. Secaucus is a wonderful town and I’m proud to be a resident (especially with the new administration), but let’s face it, we have our share of problems like any other city/town/township in the country….let’s print the news that actually happens, which is what esecaucus is doing. The stories are all factual and they are reported without any personal feelings getting in the way of the facts….please keep up the great work!
Thanks, Kathleen! We appreciate your kind works. And thanks for reading!
so true jeffas is the real deal for the first ward no one will give him a run plus richard kane quite once for his new job. so he cant be back in work will get in the way so stick with a good man in jeffas good for the first ward good for the town