Conflict of Interest Prompts Revote on Parking Permit Price Hike

The issue of the annual commuter parking permit raised cost was revisited at the Manalapan Township Committee public meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 10. The $50 increase was of this year with a yes from everyone on the committee, except for Committeewoman Michelle Roth. The committee must know revote on the matter, due to a discovered conflict of interest.

According to Mayor Andrew Lucas, a Manalapan resident approached the committee and informed them that Michelle Roth should have recused herself from the initial vote because she is a commuter parking permit holder. The mayor apologized for the oversight and said that, “this was simply error that was made in good faith.”

Therefore, the committee held a second reading of the proposed ordinance to raise the commuter parking permit from $150 to $200, a 34 percent increase.

The township attorney, Roger McLaughlin, explained that further deliberation and revote would be “nunc pro tunc” to Feb. 23 (the date in which the ordinance was adopted) in order to validate the actions taken in the past several months. This means that the new decision would have the effect of taking place on the earlier date.  

Since Roth can no longer vote to approve the second reading, vote on its adoption, which will occur on Sept. 14, or engage in discussion on the ordinance prior to voting, Roth took the time she had during her Township Committee report to air her grievances.

“While some on this dais, particularly the mayor and the deputy mayor, would have you believe that the fee is necessary to offset snow removal and maintenance costs it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Roth said. “To be clear, fees currently charged for parking permits already offset those expenses, in addition to others, and our Transportation Committee members made this point clear when they objected to the mayor’s calculations.”

Approximately 1,400 Manalapan residents purchase and use parking permits, according to Roth. Roth said that the recent NJ transit price hikes should be enough for local commuters to handle and that “adding a 34 percent increase in a parking permit fee is not only unwarranted, but further saddles these commuters with an additional financial burden.”

Roth also added that her ownership of a parking permit makes her participation in the debate more legitimate. She called the high increase on a small number of residents “bad public policy”, “discriminatory” and “wrong”. 

Deputy Mayor Ryan Green said that “it is difficult to take [Roth’s] comments seriously because she has a personal financial self-interest in the outcome - hence, a conflict of interest.”

Green added that the waiting list to obtain a commuter parking permit has thousands of people on it, some of whom have been on the list for years. Green said that the problem stems from part-time commuters who hang on to the pass, while full-time commuters are not able to benefit from a space; Roth and her husband are an example of these part-time commuters, Green said. 

The committee approved the second reading of the ordinance with Roth abstaining because of the conflict of interest. The ordinance will be up for adoption at the Township Committee Public meeting on Sept. 14.