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Judge Rules Against Mayor In Appointment Dispute, But Dispute Rages On
By Catherine Galioto
The judge has reached his verdict on whether appointments made by acting mayor Virginia Lampman can stand. They can.
But one position remains a struggle.
In January, Lampman, who briefly served as mayor following the resignation of former mayor Joseph Scarpelli, made the annual appointments traditionally made during the January 1 reorganization meeting. Among them was Dominick Rappoccio, appointed to a position on the planning board.
But when Rappoccio showed up to what he thought would be his first meeting as a new planning board member, he was refused his seat. He has yet to be sworn in.
Mayor Dan Kelly, also the past planning board chairman, became mayor days after Lampman made her appointments. He quickly argued that the appointments were not hers to make and took the matter to court.
Superior Court Judge Frank A. Buczynski Jr. ruled last week that Lampman's appointments were in fact valid.
But now, current planning board chairman Fred Underwood and planning board attorney Charles Tivenan say Rappoccio cannot take the seat to which he was appointed. Kevin Aiello is currently serving in the position.
Underwood spoke before the township council this week to say there was never a vacancy to fill.
For his part, Rappoccio said he was treated with disrespect during his first attempt to take his planning board seat, and then again after the Superior Court ruling.
Underwood said the issue lies with how former mayor Scarpelli filed letters of appointment. Scarpelli appointed Aiello to the planning board. Lampman appointed Rappoccio to replace Aiello, because the planning board seat needs to be filled with a member of the township Environmental Commission. Scarpelli's letter appointing Aiello to the board should have appointed Aiello to the environmental commission, but didn't, according to Underwood.
Now Aiello is a member of both boards, Underwood said, therefore there are no vacancies for Rappoccio to fill.
Yet Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro, who also sits on the planning board, disagrees that the planning board has the power to ignore a Superior Court decision. The planning board attorney is essentially ruling on who can be its members, she argued, and that is a conflict of interest because board members hire the board attorney and set salary.
"I believe this is an illegally formed planning board," Scaturro said. "The planning board attorney is there to rule on land use issues."
Rappoccio wondered what now could be done.
Scaturro said the township attorney will look into the matter, getting more background information before offering an opinion.
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