As the litigation filed by Councilman Charles Morgan against Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh continues, the West Windsor Township Council has approved $7,500 more in legal fees to defend the mayor.
Council members did so after agreeing on June 20 to send a copy of two separately proposed revisions to the township code by Councilwoman Linda Geevers and Morgan — in hopes that these revisions will settle the lawsuit and prevent accumulation of future fees.
The issue came to a head after the June 13 meeting erupted into a shouting match when Township Attorney Michael Herbert attempted to prevent Councilman Charles Morgan from talking about his lawsuit during the portion of the meeting where council members are allowed to comment.
Morgan, who has filed his second lawsuit against Hsueh, insisted that it was within his right to defend himself after members of the public criticized him during public comment earlier in the meeting.
During the shouting match, Morgan said his lawsuit was not politically motivated — he revealed that he is planning to move to Florida in December at the end of his term and will not seek re-election.
Morgan has filed an appeal and a second lawsuit alleging the mayor failed to provide a report as requested by him during budget deliberations in 2010. Morgan claimed that the mayor failed to provide the information the councilman was entitled to under the township’s Faulkner Act form of government.
Mercer County Judge Douglas H. Hurd dismissed the lawsuit on February 18 in a less-than-two-page ruling.
Morgan subsequently filed two new motions with the court — one to reconsider and another to amend his original complaint, as well as a 14-page brief. His motion was denied on April 1.
Morgan submitted an appeal to the Appellate Division at the end of April seeking reversal. He has also filed another lawsuit with respect to a different request he says has been ignored by the administration. Morgan had offered in the past to come to a settlement agreement if language to clarify the section of the township code about council reports that is the subject of the lawsuit, but it was not accepted by the mayor and his attorney.
At the subsequent council meeting on June 20, Geevers proposed her own changes to the ordinance. “I feel that whether members of the public support Mr. Morgan’s position, or whether they support the mayor’s position, we are at a log jam to move forward,” said Geevers.
Her changes would require the administration to provide a written report, either in hard copy or E-mail, within 10 days (or longer, if both parties mutually agree on a date), and it would be acceptable for the mayor or business administrator to ask another department head to submit the information requested. The township clerk’s office would receive a copy of the report so that it is part of the public record.
If the language was acceptable to Morgan, and council was willing to go along with it, she would ask Morgan to put a stay on the litigation, “so we’re not spending more money on attorney’s fees.”
Morgan said coming up with the appropriate wording is a tough task because under township code, the council can only deal with the township’s employees through the mayor or administration. He said he would want the report to come from the mayor or administrator so that council members can recall exactly what those reports stated.
“If we are going to get into a dispute about anything, it ought to be about the actions we’re going to take as a result of the reports, not what it says,” Morgan said.
He said it was also difficult to determine a period of time for response from the mayor or administration. “I think the administration has a legitimate concern about resources” that would need to be allocated to come up with the reports, including time used by employees to find the information. At one point, he said he contemplated including a 30-day time period, but questioned whether the time frame was appropriate. “Let’s be reasonable about timing.”
Councilwoman Diane Ciccone asked whether the request had to be submitted through E-mail or in writing, or whether it could apply to information requested during a public meeting, but the council determined that was already expected.
Ciccone recommended that the draft changes be forwarded to the League of Municipalities, where its attorneys can review it and issue an opinion.
Council President Kamal Khanna said he did not think the ordinance required any change. “I have always gotten what I wanted,” said Khanna about information requests from the administration.
Ultimately, however, the council voted 4-0, with George Borek absent, to send drafts from both Geevers and Morgan to the League of Municipalities for review.
The council then struggled about what to do in the meantime when it came to the mayor’s attorney fees. “Under township ordinance, the mayor is entitled to be represented by an attorney,” said Geevers.
Business Administrator Robert Hary reported at the June 13 meeting, when the additional money was originally up for approval, that to date, council has authorized $15,628 in attorneys fees, but the township is now about $3,100 in the hole with that budget, and the money spent is already about $19,000. The additional $10,000 proposed ($7,500 was approved) includes that $3,100 already spent but not authorized.
Ciccone questioned the amount spent to defend the first lawsuit, which was ultimately determined to be the first $15,000. She said that given it is a similar lawsuit to the first one, it should be reasonable to expect that it will cost nearly the same amount.
However, Hary pointed out that the costs for discovery and other background information will probably not be needed this time around, so it may cost less. In addition, he said, Hsueh’s lawyer, Steven Secare of the Secare, Ryan, & Hensel law firm in Toms River, has estimated it will cost about $4,000 to continue defending this round of lawsuits, in addition to the $3,100 already spent. Hary also clarified that while Secare asked for permission to file a counter lawsuit against Morgan for filing “frivolous lawsuits,” the administration asked him not to pursue that “so as not to incur further legal fees.”
Geevers asked Morgan whether he would ask for a stay on the current lawsuit while the League of Municipalities reviews the drafted changes to the ordinance, but Morgan said he had already contacted Hsueh’s lawyer to ask whether they could jointly submit an application to the judge for a stay while the matter is pending, but has not heard a response.
However, Ciccone said that a judge is the only person who can issue a stay, although both parties can ask for one.
To limit costs, the council ultimately approved spending $7,500 of the $10,000 proposed to be spent.
Residents were much more vocal and divided on the issue during the June 13 meeting, when Morgan and Herbert engaged in a shouting match. The shouting match was prompted by the crowd’s comments, where residents either urged Morgan to drop the lawsuit or supported him.
Resident Lindsay Diehl presented another version of her petition, which she started in March, to the council, this time with 135 signatures calling for Morgan to drop the lawsuit. She said she stood outside of the library to collect signatures, and it was easy to find support.
“They were eager to sign it,” she said. “They practically grabbed it out of my hands.” She also said that if the petition were circulated around the township, there would be an even stronger response.
Resident Andy Bromberg criticized Morgan for costing the taxpayers money in difficult financial times. “I strongly urge the council tonight to start taking sanctions against this action,” he said.
“You’re not gaining any support,” Bromberg added. “Please, can you stop this?”
Resident Janet Lerner also said she supported sanctions against Morgan because Morgan’s lawsuits had already been dismissed twice and had no merit. “Why do we need to go through this a third time?”
Resident Ina Marx echoed this sentiment, saying, “Once is enough; twice maybe, but three to four times? It seems to be a little obsessive.”
Jim Moeller, another resident, said that Morgan was at an advantage because he is a lawyer by trade and does not need to hire an attorney. Therefore, he said, it does not cost him any money. The best way to prevent him from continuing to file lawsuits is to file a counter lawsuit, when it will start costing him money, he said.
Morgan later disputed this claim, saying it costs him money out of pocket, including costs associated with copying and filing paperwork and other expenses.
Not everyone at the meeting was critical of Morgan. Resident Marshall Lerner (no relation to Janet) questioned why the mayor could not simply respond to information requests. “Why wouldn’t he want to be forthcoming?”
He questioned why “of all the other priorities occupying the town’s energies, there is so much time being devoted to this issue.”
Lerner also criticized the mayor, saying that he may not understand American culture, but in America, “we believe the little guy has a right to fight City Hall,” and when someone does that, it is “something to be respected, not criticized.”
He suggested that there could be three solutions — first, that the mayor provide the information that was requested. “After all, he works for us,” he said. Second, the mayor could choose not to provide the information, but hire a less expensive attorney. If the mayor chooses to move forward without providing the information, “let it also be his expense” to continue defending himself.
Virginia Manzari also supported Morgan. She criticized Council President Kamal Khanna for his comments to a newspaper in which he said the council had no choice but to continue spending money to defend the mayor. She said the council can vote against spending more money and ask the mayor to turn over the information.
“The mayor can actually provide the information without being asked twice,” she said. Commenting about the chance that the mayor will file a counter lawsuit against Morgan, she said Khanna should instead launch an investigation into why the mayor would not provide the information. She said she suspected it was because he was hiding something or was “playing games” and was “trying to keep Mr. Morgan from doing his job.”
Rebecca Esmi said the Faulkner Act was created under the belief that accountability and transparency were valued. She said the council serves as the legislative branch, while the mayor serves as the executive branch to encourage that transparency. Therefore, information should be shared, she said.
“What do you do when it’s not?” she said. “You don’t sanction the tools that the legislature has given” to fight the problem, she said.
Resident Rita Shaha said she was very disturbed by the lawsuits, but said she felt both Morgan and Hsueh should address the issue between themselves. “Please don’t use taxpayer money,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who is wrong or right. Taxpayers lose out.”
She said West Windsor taxpayers “have to ask, ‘Is this the best way of resolving any issues we have?’ I don’t think it is.”
In response to all of the comments, the mayor told residents he is always available. “Any one of you living in this community, if you try to set up an appointment, you never get rejected,” he said. “If you want to talk to me, I’m available.”
In response to Lerner’s remarks, Hsueh said he views himself as an American. “Don’t make that kind of racial remark,” he said.
Morgan said that none of the people who have criticized him have bothered to call him about the issue. “My term on council ends in December,” he said. “I am not running for council again. I will be changing my residence to Florida after my term is up.”
He said he is spending his own time to protect residents’ interests and has spent his own money pursuing the litigation. “A member of council should not have to file a lawsuit to get what the law already clearly says he’s got a right to receive.”
Morgan also referred to a resolution passed last year by the council authorizing a transit village designation after the resolution was added at the last minute and approved quickly so that the township could obtain grant money. Morgan has since criticized the mayor and administration, alleging there was no urgent deadline for the grant. “The mayor knew that there would be a big uproar about a transit village designation if word got out ahead of time,” he said.
