News
RB Officials Questioned Again On Children's Cultural Center Negotiation
By John Burton
RED BANK - Steve Fitzpatrick, a Hudson Avenue resident, and William Meyer, a local attorney and Monmouth Street property owner, appeared before the governing body Dec. 22 to demand that the borough attorney recuse himself from negotiations with the YMCA over the future of the Children's Cultural Center, charging that the borough attorney has a conflict of interest.
Borough Attorney Kenneth Pringle's law firm represents Meridian Health System, which operates Riverview Medical Center. Riverview's President Tim Hogan, and Chief Executive Officer, John Lloyd, serve on the board of the Community YMCA.
"The conflicts are there," Fitzgerald said.
Hogan is currently listed as a member of the Y's Board of Trustees.
The debate about the property at 51 Monmouth St. has been going on for almost a year. The site is home to the Children's Cultural Center, which conducts a variety of visual and performing arts programs geared for children.
The Monmouth Street structure, which is more than a century old, had been used as a borough hall and then later as the borough police station, until 1997 when borough officials deeded the main portion of the building to a nonprofit children's cultural organization for a $1. One of the borough's firehouses is attached to the rear of the building.
The cultural center, which hosted fundraisers and applied for grants to fund their operations, appeared to have difficulty establishing a firm financial foothold.
In 2002, the center merged with the Community YMCA, 166 Maple Avenue, with the Y taking on the responsibility for continued programming and renovation work.
In 2008, however, the Y listed the site for sale through a local commercial real estate agent. That action brought questions from residents and borough officials, because of a stipulation in the original sale agreement that the site would be used as a children's cultural center. Under that agreement, the site would revert back to the borough should there be a change in use.
However, the borough attorney, Pringle's associate Thomas Hall, has said that that reverter provision had been repealed some years ago.
The borough maintains it has been negotiating with the Y on this matter since last winter.
But when Fitzpatrick and Meyer have brought the subject up at public meetings, borough officials have declined comment because the matter is still being negotiated.
"I am troubled by the lack of openness," Meyer said at last month's meeting.
"In my opinion that building is ours," Meyer said, meaning the taxpayers.
"The taxpayer gets the raw end of the deal over and over again."
The two said a special attorney should be appointed to conduct negotiations on order to remove a perception of impropriety.
"The board of directors of the YMCA changes with ever-increasing frequency," Mayor Pasquale Menna responded to the two men's issues.
And Pringle added, "We don't deal with the board; we deal with the attorney."
"We don't represent the YMCA," Pringle said.
Fitzpatrick, along with Meyer, have regularly attended council meetings injecting their views on what they see as ethical issues for the mayor and council.
Recently, on this matter, Fitzpatrick discovered a borough document that listed former Democratic Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. as an officer for the Children's Cultural Center, while he was an elected official. Fitzgerald and Meyer voiced their concern over that detail to the Democratic controlled governing body.
Fitzpatrick, a Republican, was one of three candidates whose names were submitted to the borough council by the local Republican organization to fill a vacancy for one of the two GOP-controlled seats on the six-member governing body. The council chose another of the three candidates.
Meyer has been a plaintiff and presenting attorney in a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn zoning board of adjustment and planning board approvals of some large high-profile development projects that he alleged were awash in conflicts of interest.
Two Republican council members, Mary-Grace Cangemi and James Giannell, whose terms ended on Jan. 1, both expressed concerns with the state of the negotiations with the YMCA and the lack of progress in resolving the issue.
