County Executive Vetoes Utility Board's Appointments; Agency Says It Never Hired Anyone

County Executive Kathleen Donovan campaigned on a platform to eradicate what she said was a lack of transparency and accountability at county agencies, threatening to veto minutes, thereby invalidating resolutions passed. Donovan made good on her threat to veto minutes on Tuesday, killing resolutions passed by a utility county board she alleges went beyond the financial pale.

Donovan vetoed the minutes of the Northwest Bergen County Utility Agency (NWBCUA), which had passed resolutions on Feb. 1 to appoint four professional consulting contracts to the agency without a cost appropriation or retainer. The agency objects to that charge.

Howard Hurwitz, the executive director for the "independent" wastewater treatment agency, which serves 11 towns in the area including a portion of Ridgewood, said the resolutions don't actually hire anyone.

"All it does is indicate that we've reviewed the qualifications and selected a specific professional or professional organization for which to prepare a professional services agreement," Hurwitz said.

"That's all the resolution said, so there was no [financial] agreement prepared in advanced because the professional hadn't been selected in advance."

But Jeanne Baratta, Donovan's Chief of Staff, said the resolutions were clear that professional services had been contracted and the lack of any retainer, be it monthly or hourly, was not sound government practice.

"This is about accountability and transparency and the fact that there was no amount in these resolutions for what these professionals were going to be making," Baratta said. Future contracts would have specific pay limits, she said. "It can't be  open-ended," she said.

Hurwitz said he "did not know the answer" as to what the next step was, but did say the agency will "fulfill the requirements of having a monthly retainer or some other method for the cost of the services." The NWBCUA will be working with the County Executive to meet a resolution, he said.

The executive director told Patch he did not know what sort of stipend would be presented in a future resolution, but also remarked he did not disagree that entering into a contract should specify a cost. "But we didn't enter into an agreement," he reiterated. "Only that we would prepare a services agreement."

Hurwitz "could not recall" which of the nine members of the board voted for the resolution, against the resolution or abstained.

The nine commissioners–selected by the Bergen County Freeholders to five-year terms–elect the executive director, who was appointed by the previous Democrat-controlled county governance. The past and current members of the nine-member board is peppered with Democrats.

Former head of the Bergen County Improvement Agency (BCIA) Ronald J. O'Malley, who was indicted on federal charges for mortgage fraud in connection to his Ridgewood mortgage firm, was a former member.

Michael Kasparian, the former Chairman of the Bergen County Democrat Organization who resigned after crushing defeats in November, is a current member.

Hurwitz insists he doesn't believe the move is politically-motivated. "I think it's a new administration looking at things differently than the previous ones...this is nothing new, vetoes happen quite often," he said.

Donovan said she'd continue to reform county government. “I made a promise to the people of Bergen County and I intend to keep that promise,” Donovan said in her statement. She added that she will continue to veto minutes of agencies that she said overstep their bounds.

"There will be integrity and accountability at all levels of Bergen County government.”