MOUNT OLIVE (11/30/06) – A near year long hostile relationship between the township administration, governing body and library board came to an abrupt halt this week when newly elected Mayor David Scapicchio "cleaned house" replacing another four of the seven members of the library board, including its President.

A fifth member, the mayor’s alternate, was announced earlier by Scapicchio. He is Chris Kenny, an executive in the Morristown school system. He replaces Robb Pearson who was the alternate for former mayor, Richard DeLaRoche. Kenny was the campaign manager for Scapicchio’s Democratic opponent, John Mania. Scapicchio also has appointed Mania to the planning board, on which he had served 25 years but was not reappointed by DeLaRoche.

Another constitutional member, in addition to the mayor, is Dr. Rosalie Lamonte, the superintendent of schools. Her alternate is Noreen Risko, the Board of Education’s supervisor of community programs.

The only other member is Joan Young, the board’s treasurer, a five year member who was appointed by former Mayor Paul Licitra. Her current appointment expires December 31, 2007.

It appears that she is the only elected officer remaining on the board so that, in fact, she will be acting in the capacity of board president until December 13 when the board has its next meeting and likely will elect officers.

Scapicchio’s four new appointees are Judith Hirky, Suzanne Jeska, Stanley Miller and Stephanie Sherman. Their appointments were approved by the Township Council on Tuesday.

Miller, who lives in the Flanders section of the township will complete a term that expires at the end of this month. Hirky lives in the Budd Lake section. Her term will expire December 31, ’08; Jeska, of Flanders expires on December 31 ’09 and Sherman, also of Flanders, term expires Dec. 31 2010

Two of the new appointees filled existing vacancies on the board and the two others replaced Gerald Sheard, the President and six year member, and Cathleen Sullivan. Both were serving as holdover appointments made by DeLaRoche. They never were confirmed by the Council.

"I have carefully watched the workings of the Library Board since I was a member of the Township Council and was an enthusiastic supporter of the construction of a new library which I believe the township residents should be justly proud. I was not happy however with the ongoing bickering between the board and the Council.

"I felt an important priority in my tenure as mayor was to make the changes that were needed in that board to end the existing animosity between it and the Council and I’m confident the new members I’ve appointed and who have been confirmed by the Council will establish a new attitude of cooperation and understanding about the important role it plays in the community.

"As in all my appointments I believe these five reflect the make up of the township," Scapicchio said. They all are enthusiastic supporters of the library and its activities.

Sheard was not happy about being replaced but said he expected it. He was quoted in yesterday’s Daily Record as saying, "they (Mayor and Council) only want people on the board they can control. I think it’s strictly political.

He criticized the decision to replace so many board members at one time as bad for the public because negotiations are ongoing regarding the library construction project and new members will be in the position of having to handle them.

Scapicchio denied his appointments were political. He pointed out that two of the appointments filled vacancies that existed on the board and that Sheard had told him he did not want to serve another term.

Council President Rob Greenbaum praised Scapicchio’s appointments saying he was in agreement that the library board needed "fresh eyes" adding that he didn’t see how anyone could charge that the appointments were politically motivated.

Rita Hilbert, the long time library director, expressed some concern about having five new board members at one time. Normally a new board member is appointed each year which gives that member time to become familiar with the workings of the board.

The day after the new members were confirmed by the Council she said she sent letters to each of the new members inviting them to come in to talk about the issues before the board, the laws that govern library boards as well as this library’s by laws.

"We’ll do what we have to do to prepare them, she said. Two are coming in on Monday for a briefing that may be the first of several.

Scapicchio said, "I have every confidence the people who were appointed will be up to speed very quickly." He added that when he talked to the appointees about the board and its activities he found they had a pretty good knowledge of the issues

Among the issues they will be coming to grips with at the December 13 meeting is retrieving the last $100,000 from a state library construction grant.

At the Council meeting Scapicchio said to receive the final grant payment the state must receive documentation showing that the project architect, Dennis Kowal Architects of Somerville, must have signed off on it. However, the firm apparently has refused to do that until some outstanding bills are resolved. If the state does not receive that documentation the township could lose that money, Scapicchio said, but we’ll resolve the matter before it comes to that.