At last night's Westfield town council meeting, Mayor Andy Skibitsky finally admitted, after 7 months, that the Westfield Police Department's newly purchased emergency mobile command center was, in fact, not part of the security detail or anywhere near MetLife Stadium on the day of Super Bowl 48 last February.
Previously, Skibitsky allowed his police chief David Wayman and Acting Mayor JoAnn Neylan to read prepared statements at council meetings stating that Westfield police were "at the Super Bowl" assisting other law enforcement agencies with security.
The fact of the matter is, and finally admitted to by Mayor Skibitsky, the emergency mobile command center was in Hoboken on a "Training exercise."
Actually, that training exercise was to guard a curling exhibition at the "Hoboken Huddle," a winter carnival staged for Hoboken's "cash in" on the Super Bowl.
TFoTM had reported that former Westfield Parking Director John Morgan, who is now Hoboken's parking czar, may have had something to do with Westfield's involvement but as of last night, Skibitsky and other town officials have remained silent on the issue.
Hoboken residents and police questioned Westfield's involvement.
It appears that Mayor Skibitsky and his police chief will say anything to justify the emergency mobile command centers purchase even if it means traveling to Hoboken, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia, for events unrelated to Westfield and paid for by the Westfield taxpayer.
Still unanswered by Mayor Skibitsky.......Why was the mobile command center and/or attendant vehicles being hidden at Sevell's garage, with Westfield Police decals on them, a month or more before the town council ever voted on whether or not to purchase the emergency equipment and before any specifications were drawn up for the equipment to be purchased as per New Jersey state bidding laws?
Hopefully taxpayers won't have to wait another 7 months for Mayor Skibitsky to tell the truth on that question.
More to follow on last night's town council meeting.
What's on Wayman's wish list this Christmas? Maybe patrol boat for Mindowaskin Pond? The ship of fools continues to sail.
ReplyDeleteI just called Townhall. They told me to click my heels twice and all my leaves will be gone.
ReplyDeletesounds like the Mayor is trying to distance himself from the sinking ship
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
DeleteFor now, Mayor Skibitsky's motive to finally admit that the Westfield police were not at the Super Bowl, after months of silence and allowing other town officials to say so, is unclear.
The "procurement" of the emergency mobile command center is under investigation by other state agencies and may very well be the reason Skibitsky has changed his position.
Change his position.......nice way of saying he lied.......
ReplyDeleteBy allowing his Acting Mayor (JoAnn Neylan) and his police Chief David Wayman to state publicly that Westfield was assisting with security at the Super Bowl, he perpetuated the lie.
DeleteBut what about all the fancy Super Bowl pictures in the new police hallway?
ReplyDeleteSmoke and mirrors. Look at the picture closely. It was taken in Hoboken in front of the roman numeral 48 to mimic the Suoer Bowl.
Delete"Davy's Land of Make Believe"...he's been playing pretend his whole life
DeleteHahahaha. More mountains out of mole hills. Please provide some detail of what exactly was done that breaks the law.... and stop with the fantasy world of innuendo. So what...the truck was in Hoboken...these pictures have been out there since the Superbowl. Regardless of where, security was to assist with Superbowl traffic....more Kasko conspiracy theory and word parsing. The sad fact is that you continue with your bitter attacks because you have nothing else to do...you need therapy dude...you gotta let go of your past...for the town's sake, and your own. But I'm sure you'll let Blake continue to manipulate you as his talking head...very sad.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
DeleteYou should be irate at the persons who created the lie, not at the one who uncovered it. The very fact that we now know we were misled by the Police Chief and the acting Mayor should be sufficient for you to join in the continued questioning of those who lied ,those who perpetuated the lie and those who knew better and remained silent.
You sound like someone who avidly wants to end the inquiry. Your very statement that the Westfield Police were aiding Superbowl traffic indicates the minimal knowledge with which you are working. The Command Center was assigned duty by Hoboken to aid in the commercial venture called the "Hoboken Huddle". Rather than doing anything with the Secret Service, FBI, State Police, or Homeland Security, as Wayman would have you believe, our police were guarding a curling attraction on the Hoboken piers.
You are misinformed and your devotion to fairy tales makes the remainder of your comments irrelevant.
I have every intention of continuing to ask why the public was allowed to be misled as it was and why machinery purchased to insure Westfield's quick ability to respond to disaster has been allowed to tour N.J. and Philadelphia at the behest of its manufacturer and at Westfield's expense.
Misleading the public may not be illegal, but in my opinion it should be made public and the politicians who sit back in silence are as culpable as the liar.
Nothing illegal, interesting. Another reminder for the 'masses' of Kasko supporters. Why don't you direct your abundant time towards advocating against something more important, like the proposed pipeline going through Westfield.
ReplyDeleteCouncil, 3rd Ward
Matthew SONTZ – 617 - 40%
Mark LoGRIPPO – 716 - 45%
Gregory W. KASKO – 260 - 15%
I have no problem with the proposed pipeline going through Westfield...IF.....it's underground and the owners of the pipeline pay my property taxes.
ReplyDeleteCouncil, 3rd Ward
ReplyDeleteMatthew SONTZ – 617 - 40%
Mark LoGRIPPO – 716 - 45%
Gregory W. KASKO – 260 - 15%
Who cares...Don't you have anything better to do with your life. I've just wasted 60 seconds reading this rubbish.
ReplyDeleteMayor Skibitsky hopes you don't care and wishes I didn't, but I do.
DeleteYou'll probably think you just wasted 30 seconds reading this response along with the time it took you to log onto the site to see if there was a response.
Thank you for your interest.
Why wouldn't you care is the real question. We have become a society that just accepts that people we have hired can do anything they want and get away with it. Wouldn't you have rather that they had spent the quarter million dollars by going to all the small stores that some how manage to survive in downtown Westfield. I bet those people would really care. Come on I grew up in Westfield and it is pretty much the last place that needs a command center. And if you don't believe that the police officers were not being paid OT by the town you are a fool.
ReplyDeleteWestfield police chief David Wayman and Mayor Andy Skibitsky have both stated that Westfield police officers worked in Hoboken at "no extra expense to the town or its residents" and "there was no overtime for the officers taking part in the Hoboken counterterrorism events." Make no mistake about it, they were compensated. Mayor Skibitsky refuses to admit in public that the Westfield Taxpayer paid for our police to stand guard at a winter carnival called Hoboken Huddle. The police chief and mayor also stated that some officers participated in the events on their own time. Let me be very clear, NO POLICE OFFICER WORKED THE EVENT FOR FREE, THEY WERE ALL COMPENSATED.
ReplyDeleteI guess the one positive is that with Westfield in attendance at the Hoboken Huddle, which was even questioned by Hoboken residents and Hoboken police officers, the sport of curling was presumably safe from terrorists.
This event had nothing to do with Super Bowl security at MetLife Stadium the day of Super Bowl 48 which town officials would rather you believe in order to justify taking the mobile command center away from Westfield.
This removal of the emergency mobile command center for what the mayor, police chief and town administrator all refer to as "counterterrorism training'" was nothing more than a glorified winter carnival held by Hoboken, to profit Hoboken, in the week leading up to Suoer Bowl 48. No doubt, former disgraced Westfiled Parking Director John Morgan, who now heads up Hoboken's parking authority, had a hand in bringing Westfield police to Hoboken on the backs of the Westfield taxpayer.
As much as you repeat this time and again...no one cares! Just you, because you're a bitter ex-cop.
ReplyDeleteYou're right.
DeleteHey Greg, Anonymous isnt right...you are not an ex-cop you are a retired cop.
ReplyDeleteThank you Webster. Anonymous is probably still trying to figure out which part of the comment I'm agreeing with. It's the first part, about repeating time and again.
ReplyDeletenice post "Webster"...aka Kasko. hahahaha, retired? more like disgraced. but like the others...you'll filter this comment to suit your delusional needs. town joke!
ReplyDeleteI'm writing as "Anonymous" because, just like "Anonymous," I prefer to remain anonymous. I am not Kasko. Thank you Mr. Kasko, RETIRED(!) Westfield Police Officer, for your work as a member of the W.P.D.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Kasko for all you do to keep Westfield residents/taxpayers like us in the know on what the more "traditional" media outlets clearly filter and/or don't want to know about. NOTE- I am not nor have I ever been employed by Westfield or any government body. I am a member of the "civilian" population of Westfield.
To the other Anonymous... Usually, as the saying goes, "where there is smoke, there is fire." Feel free to bury your head in the sand and to believe everything that all politicians say and/or omit from saying. Not a good recipe for democracy. Fine for North Korea or Cuba. Not part of the fabric of America. Go ahead and believe all you are told by your politicians if you like though.
what do you expect from a Zod butt lick.....
ReplyDeleteThe mayor looks like a slimeball.
ReplyDelete