MOUNT OLIVE (12/12/05) – The Turkey Brook Park pavilion, a done deal last October, took up most of the time during the latest Township Council meeting.

Tempers on both sides…council members and the mayor… flared when Mayor Richard DeLaRoche brought up his dissatisfaction with the already agreed to shape of the proposed pavilion at Turkey Brook Park. He suggested it be changed from an octagon shape to a rectangle shape because on further consideration since the octagon shape had been decided in October he had second thoughts. There would be more room for cover with a rectangle shape, he said.

The shape of the pavilion had been decided after long and tedious discussion in October, the mayor signed off on it, and it was unanimously approved by the Council.

DeLaRoche admitted an "oversight had been made by the administration. " He said he had originally favored the rectangle shape. He further charged that the Turkey Brook Development Committee had made an "unauthorized " decision to contract for the octagon shape.

Council President Rob Greenbaum, exhibiting blustering frustration, pointed out that DeLaRoche had signed the contract for an octagon shape after the Council had approved it. He questioned whether the mayor had even read the legally binding contract he signed. He said he found it hard to understand how the mayor could come at the eleventh hour to change the design he signed off on in a legally binding contract.

Greenbaum said "we have a valid binding contract that must be done pursuant to specifications. "That is the law, " he told DeLaRoche, who also is an attorney.

He angrily charged that we’ve wasted far too much time on this matter when there are far more important issues like budget projections for 2006.

Several Council members also criticized DeLaRoche for saying the Turkey Brook Committee made an "unauthorized " decision concerning the layout for the pavilion, pointing out that the committee simply made a recommendation and Mayor and Council, in agreement, authorized the signing of the contract.

"If you were unhappy with the shape of the pavilion you should have corrected it before you brought it to the Council, " Greenbaum stated. It’s too late now, he said

DeLaRoche countered that he had talked to someone in the NJ Department of Community Affairs and was told the design could be changed as long as the cost isn’t increased.

The Mayor had ordered Township Engineer Eugene Buczynski not to continue with the project until the matter was settled. However, the Council voted unanimously to have Buczynski move ahead immediately with the work.

Councilman Ray Perkins, who seldom, if ever, gets into the governing body squabbles

expressed his frustration during the exchange between the mayor and other council members. He pointed to the efforts of the volunteers who serve on the Turkey Brook Committee, including their efforts to determine the shape of the pavilion. "I cannot support any kind of change that would disregard the committee’s wishes, he said.

Newly elected Councilman John Biondi wondered aloud why the matter had even come up in the first place. The mayor signed the contract, he said. Why are we even having this discussion. "