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Friday, August 05, 2016

Westfield Town Officials Wasteful Spending

     As a result of Westfield town officials refusing to disclose information requested through an O.P.R.A. (Open Public Records Act) request, a denial that has been ruled to be in violation of OPRA, Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky has many questions to answer.
     A recent ruling by the New Jersey Government Records Council has forced the town to comply with the original OPRA request and subjects the town to foot the bill for attorney's fees incurred during the legal process.  These fees are in addition to any fees charged by Westfield town attorney Russell Finestein to defend the town's losing position.
     TFoTM asks Mayor Skibitsky the following simple question:
If Westfield town clerk Claire Gray did not act alone in the decision to redact all of the specifications of the emergency mobile command center, from the OPRA request, who authorized the redactions that were ruled by the GRC to be revealed?
A.  Mayor Skibitsky
B.  Police Chief David Wayman
C.  Town Administrator Jim Gildea
D.  A combination of all of the above

     Mayor Skibitsky's stubbornness, arrogance, and lack of transparency is just another example of mismanagement that permeates his administration and costs the taxpayers of Westfield.
     TFoTM has documented the town's willful wasteful spending in the past.  This time, town officials will have no choice regarding expenditures to cover the cost of litigation as a result of their refusal to reveal something so simple as tables and chairs when asked about the contents of the emergency mobile command center.
Costly oversight or arrogant redaction?

It happened there, it could happen here when town officials refuse to disclose information to the public.  See related story of New Jersey town subjected to attorney's fees for OPRA litigation.

http://www.nj.com/somerset/index.ssf/2016/03/nj_borough_settles_opra_lawsuit_for_650000_report.html#incart_river_home

5 comments:

  1. Greg, your a hero and a real cop.
    I wonder if Governor Christies office would be interested in an email detailing the activities of westfield police & political figures. A government entity should have intervened long ago. people need to be held accountable for their actions.

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    1. What I am is a Westfield taxpayer tired of Skibitsky's ignorance to issues he was warned about in 2009 and 2010 should he allow the promotion of Dave Wayman to police chief.........issues that are now plaguing his administration.
      Governor Christie's office is not the desired destination for any information detailing the activities of town officials given the political ties Skibitsky has with Assemblyman Bramnick, Bill Palatucci, and others that are a direct pipeline into Christie'a back pocket.

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  2. I am sure that Joe Cryan would be happy to look into it !

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  3. I see they've been getting a lot of use out of their quarter of a million dollar trailer and the other toys. They use them as a background for photo ops. Hahahahaha!

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  4. But it's a nice background

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