VIDEO: Carr and Wojyn Spar At Englishtown Council

It was a war of words between Councilman Gregory Wojyn and Councilwoman Jayne Carr during Monday's Englishtown Council meeting held at the .

Tensions began when Councilman Wojyn asked for an amendment to the Aug. 10 special meeting minutes, based on comments Carr allegedly made on Manalapan Patch about failed notification of that meeting.

"I requested that specific language be included in the minutes that addressed Coucilwoman Jayne Carr's false accusations the borough clerk did not inform her of the special meeting of August 10, 2011," said Wojyn.  "I also wanted stated in the record that the borough clerk and the borough adminstration office employees were in 100 percent compliance with New Jersey laws governing open meetings and open records."

The council approved the amendment.

Later in the meeting on Monday, Carr called Wojyn’s remarks against her at an Aug. 24 council meeting “a very public attempt at a character assassination and defamation.” She then delivered a report against Wojyn which featured comments made by the owner of Nostalgia Oak Warehouse, Leo Deutsch.

Reading from a typed report, Carr said that Deutsch was approached several times by Councilman Wojyn, who encouraged him to seek legal action against Carr for comments she made about his business.

“Mr. Deutsch stated that the Councilman’s continuous behavior and unwanted contact was bordering at the very least on harassment and possibly stalking,” said Carr. “I told him that I would report all of this at tonight’s meeting in hopes of making it stop, and he thanked me.”

The issue concerns Deutsch’s intentions to relocate to a smaller location and his ongoing attempts to sell the Nostalgia Oak Warehouse.

According to council minutes dated October 13, 2010, Carr said she had been in contact with a North Carolina business, Sun Pacific Power, which expressed interest in moving to the location. However, the roof of the warehouse needs to be replaced. The cost of a new roof is an estimated $350,000, and Carr suggested the council look into tax incentives to entice the business to Englishtown.

“[Deutsch] also stated that his taxes were way too high for the selling value of his property and that he was in the process of filing an appeal. He thanked me for my efforts in fighting to stabilize the taxes,” said Carr.

Wojyn maintains that Carr had no business in making comments about Nostalgia Oak Warehouse to the council. In response, Carr said she chairs the Business Development Committee and does have that right.

While Wojyn confirmed that he did call Nostalgia Oak Warehouse “a couple of times,” he strongly dismissed stalking allegations, calling them “hear-say.”

Carr had concluded her statement by saying that this is not the first attempted character assassination by a member of the Council.

“I am asking this Council tonight to call for an end to this ongoing defamation and assassination of my character and to make a pledge to move onto something more productive while working together for the benefit of the Englishtown taxpayers,” said Carr.

Carr and Wojyn then made comments to each other about taking their dispute to court.

Although, Borough Attorney Joseph Youssouf said that their exchanges have not been grounds for a defamation claim. Moreover, their dispute is not a matter of public business and should be kept out of meetings.

Wojyn denied asking Deutsch about bringing a lawsuit against Carr. “I at no time, at any point whatsoever, ever encouraged anyone to file a suit. My fear was that the borough could be sued for the comments - the unsolicited comments and inaccurate comments that Councilwoman Carr made about this business- and that she did make those comments, and they were inaccurate,” said Wojyn. 

The heated conversation concluded with a gavel pound and a stern warning from Mayor Thomas Reynolds to the council members.

“I don’t have a problem with debate, but when it gets down to this level, I will have the council members taken out of chambers,” said Reynolds.

For Leo Deutsch's response to this issue, click .

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