Resident Files Sunshine Law Complaint Against Township Committee

A Barnegat resident has filed a complaint alleging the Barnegat Township Committee violated the state's sunshine law when it held a last month.

Phil Checchia filed the complaint with the Ocean County Prosecutor's office, saying that the Jan. 11 gathering of elected officials was illegal under New Jersey's Open Public Meetings Act, which requires government bodies to give advance notice of public meetings where officials discuss or act on any business affecting the public.

The five township committeemen took no action at the press conference, which several reporters attended, including one from Barnegat Patch. But in Checchia's eyes, that doesn't matter. He said that he felt the press conference, which sparked a storm of angry backlash from the Board of Education, was a political move to generate support at the expense of the BOE, and should have been done in the open.

"It was public business that they discussed," said Checchia, who has been an outspoken opponent of the current committee in the past, and ran against one in the most recent election. "People want transparency, and they don't have it. I'm a believer in fairness, and when you quote law, there's not room for any misrepresentation. You can't make the law say what you want to say."

But William Kearns, Jr., a Burlington County-based attorney who acts as head legal counsel for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said he didn't think the township committee met illegally. 

"When you have something that violates the Open Public Meeting Law, it's because someone's trying to meet quietly or confidentially, when they should be doing it in the open," Kearns said. "Here, they're doing something at a press conference and stating their views. You can't get much more open than that."

It's likely some lawyers would disagree with him, said Kearns. "But do I think what they were doing violates the spirit of public records law? Not when you're doing it with the press right there."

Township attorney Jerry Dasti agreed.

"This was not a meeting," he said. "The act talks about discussing public matters and making decisions, neither of which happened."

Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael A. Paulhus said he would not comment on the complaint, or even confirm that his office was looking into it. But citizens do have the right to report suspected violations, he said.

If found to be in violation of the law, the governing body's actions during the meeting are nullified – which, Dasti pointed out, doesn't apply in the case of the Jan. 11 gathering, since there was no action taken.

A $100 penalty is issued for the first violation of the OPMA, followed by fines of up to $500 for subsequent offenses. State statute also allows citizens to sue in state Superior Court to nullify any action taken and seek an injunction to ensure future compliance.

"There absolutely was no violation," said Barnegat Mayor Al Cirulli. "I have no idea why Mr. Checchia would do something like this. It's not something we hid."

Checchia said he'd take the complaint as far as he could. "I don't care whether they get fined or they don't get fined, but they will be told that what they did was wrong," he said.