Health Board Drops Lawsuit Against Hopatcong

Hopatcong's board of health withdrew its lawsuit against the mayor and council Thursday, ending more than a month of public sparring between the parties.

But it was a bittersweet victory for Mayor Sylvia Petillo, who said while she was glad the suit——was dropped, it shouldn't have existed.

"You knew the lawsuit was frivolous to begin with, and you knew it was going to fail," Petillo said.

In a letter to Superior Court Judge Thomas Weisenbeck, attorney Phillip George of Eric M. Bernstein & Associates, representing the board of health, said both sides would "make a good faith effort to negotiate any issues between them." Click the PDF on the right to read the letter.

George didn't return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

But Petillo said that while the council would be open to working with the board of health, board President Mariano Gianni should have made good-faith negotiating a lead priority before filing the suit.

"A good-faith negotiation starts before a lawsuit," she said, "not after a lawsuit."

The Board of Health sued the council and Petillo on March 15, alleging that they passed a law wrongfully usurping the board's duties of appointing, supervising and compensating health department workers.

The suit also alleged that Petillo and the council violate Open Public Meetings Act and New Jersey Civil Service laws.

Hopatcong fired back on April 27, , which it called "moot" considering the council replaced the law in question with a new ordinance restoring the board's ability to hire the employees, as per state statue.

The motion also said the board didn't have the ability to sue and, even if it did, the board didn't properly advertise the February meeting during which it voted to give Gianni authority to speak with a lawyer and to pursue legal action.

The health board's decision to drop the suit came two days after borough attorney John Ursin of Courter, Kobert & Cohen said in a letter to George that , which offered to end the suit if the borough agreed to limit the seven-member board to four residents and three council members. Petillo has said the council will fill expiring board of health seats. The board also asked, as another condition of the withdrawal, that the council pay the board’s legal fee.

Gianni said the board dropped the lawsuit on the advice of George.

"We have a possibility of sitting down and hammering out a few points and they would consider paying the lawyers fees," Gianni said.

Gianni replied "no comment" when asked which points would be discussed.

Ursin echoed Petillo's sentiments.

"We were disappointed that type of frivolous litigation got filed in the first place," Ursin said. "So we wrote a very comprehensive response to the judge and we were sure the case was going to get dismissed. So I'm satisfied with the result.

"I'm sure the council will be open-minded in that it can have any discussion moving forward with the board of health. If we had more open and constructive discussions, things might not have progressed to where they are now."

Ursin also said he doubted the promise of good-faith negotiations played a large role in the suit's dismissal.

"If they thought they were going to proceed with this motion and win," Ursin said, "it wouldn't have been dropped."

The circumstances regarding the filing of the lawsuit weren’t immediately clear.

Despite an earlier statement that the board of health voted to sue the mayor and council, Gianni said it actually voted to give him the permission to seek legal council and to take legal action if necessary. Board member Joell Servoss and Yvonne Syto, who recently resigned from the board, said .

Servoss also called the lawsuit "foolish” and a waste of taxpayer money. Board of Health Vice President Thomas Forbes refused to comment on the lawsuit.

Gianni said he didn't attempt informing board members of the suit so he wouldn't break OPMA laws.

"The case is over," Ursin said. "We can move on."