UPPER TOWNSHIP – During public comment at Monday evening’s Upper Township Committee meeting, citizens pressed the new township administrator for an update on a Garden State Parkway exit and how he came to get his job.
Resident Barbara Murphy-Leary echoed prior praise of the Public Works Department before asking township Administrator Gary Demarzo about his comments regarding Exit 20.
“I think by the end of the month we should golden shovel that, right?” Demarzo said earlier in the meeting. “We should get that done.”
“Exit 20 is one of our big-picture items,” Demarzo said, “and I’ll be contacting the state to find out what happened to Exit 20 and why it fell off the map. My initial conversations with the powers in the state is that it’s still an act of consideration.”
Demarzo lamented that it seems the state’s position is that “once you bring us the ring of Saturn, we’ll consider it.”
Murphy-Leary asked if there was anything the community could do to aid the process. Demarzo said no.
Murphy-Leary also asked about revitalizing the township centers, particularly Cedar Square, which she called “a nightmare.”
Mayor Curtis Corson Jr. said code enforcement would “be pro-active” while Demarzo requested email correspondence with specifics.
Corson also blamed “an absentee owner” for Cedar Square.
Demarzo resumé
Resident Natalie Niece stepped to microphone to question Demarzo’s qualifications.
She quoted a newspaper article in which Corson was quoted saying “his resume speaks for itself.”
Niece made an Open Public Records Act request for his resume and was told there was none on file. “I’m sure Gary’s willing to tell you his resume,” Corson said.
Demarzo explained he requested his resume be returned to him because “unfortunately, the ability to contact employees, friends, prior businesses became nefarious.”
“I’m a bit confused about how you just appeared on the scene,” Niece said.
“I didn’t get off the bus from Minnesota on Tuesday,” Demarzo said, saying he’s been in the county for 30 years.
Niece pressed Demarzo on how he was referred to the administrator position, to which he replied, “This is not a deposition.”
Niece recalled the prior committee meeting which Committee members Kim Hayes and Mark Pancoast attended by phone. “Kim Hayes, were you in Florida April 25?”
“That’s not your business,” Corson said.
“I’m sorry, that’s personal information I’m not comfortable sharing,” Hayes said. “What I do outside of my time on Township Committee is between my family and I.”
“How about you, Mark Pancoast? Were you in Florida?”
“This is a public hearing, not an interrogation,” he said.
“You were not here. Were you paid to be here?” Niece asked.
“If you want to interrogate him, I’m sure you could get a lawyer who’d be happy to,” Corson said.
Demarzo then invoked a statute saying residents are allotted five minutes apiece for public comment. Corson advised Pancoast not to respond and thanked Niece for her concerns before moving to private session.
By KYLE McCRANE/Special to the Sentinel