In Hillside, new mayor battles council for control

Independent Joe Menza's surprise victory has created an early uproar in Hillside Township, with both sides reaching for war metaphors to describe the ongoing and rocky transition of power in this Union County town where the local Democratic Party machine still controls the council. 

"Let's just say the war's started," said John O'Shea, the mayor's former campaign manager whom Menza now wants as his mayoral aide at a salary of $70,000.

New Council President Edward Brewer argued that it was the new mayor who "fired the first salvo over the bow of the ship of state" when he sought to appoint O'Shea by executive order, in addition to attorney Joseph Greer as acting business administrator for a period of 90 days at a salary not to exceed $50,000, the Cliffside Park law firm of Diktas, Schandler & Gillen as “general counsel” at the rate of $150.00 per hour, and the Fairlawn accounting firm of Lerch, Vinci and Higgins as auditor and financial advisors.

Menza stood by taking no action on the contract expiration of Democratic Party appointee Township Attorney Christine Burgess, which took effect last night, according to O'Shea.

The mayor tried to engage the council on his own appointees, but found Brewer and company closed to dialogue, O'Shea said.

Brewer has his own take on the standoff.

"As a newly installed mayor, your desire to make appointments is natural," Brewer wrote Menza in a letter he CC'd to PolitickerNJ.com. "However, I am advised by the Township Attorney that the appointments you seek are subject to New Jersey’s Local Unit Pay to Play Statute, utilizing the fair and open process established by Hillside Township pursuant thereto, Local Public Contracts Law, the Faulkner Act, the General Law and/or Hillside Township Ordinances."

O'Shea read the letter as sheer hypocrisy, given what he sees as past transgressions piled up by the council, including, in his view, their inexpicable hiring and retention of at least seven lawyers.

"That letter's a total smokescreen," complained O'Shea. "They want to investigate anyone and everyone, and if that's the case, I need to do that with appointees the council wanted to put up."

For O'Shea, the bottom line is the council wants to disrupt Menza's authority as the mayor and turn him into a ceremonial ribbon-cutter with no staff and no clout.

"Under the Faulkner Act, the mayor can appoint counsel, an auditor, a chief of staff, a mayoral aide," O'Shea said. "It's all black and white in Faulkner. The council won't act on these appointments, so the mayor has to take executive action.

"As they keep doing this, we're getting closer to court," O'Shea added.  "Mr. Ed (Brewer) can be as disruptive as he wants, but he has to respect the office, whether the mayor is Joe Menza, Jerome Jewell, or Howdy Dowdy."

After exchanging words with O'Shea at last week's reorganization meeting, Brewer again clashed with Menza's aide de camp later in the week.

"On July 3 at about 1:30 p.m., Mr. O’ Shea (and a member of the Lerch accounting firm) were escorted from the Hillside Municipal Building by the Hillside Police Department as they attempted to review confidential documents in the Hillside Township Treasurer’s Office," Brewer told PolitickerNJ.com. “Unless and until these people are hired with the advice and consent of the Township Council, the confidential information of the citizens of Hillside Township must remain confidential to the Mayor personally.”

Brewer said he's confident that the mayor, in his words, "will eventually choose to cooperate with the Township Council to effect much needed change in Hillside," but believes that "getting there is going to be a very bumpy ride."

On that last count at least, O'Shea agreed.