CREST HAVEN – The majority of the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday declined to give their colleague, Commissioner Will Morey, the opportunity to discuss a resolution about a $1 million contract.
When Morey asked Commission Director Leonard Desiderio why he wouldn’t give him the respect and courtesy of hearing what he had to say, Desiderio replied, “That’s the way I felt.”
Morey said he wished to discuss a resolution authorizing a memorandum of agreement with Aviation Sports Complex LLC that he received a copy of just three and a half hours before the Nov. 12 meeting.
The resolution, based on the discussion in the room, authorized the county to enter into a 10-year, $1 million contract with the developers, who are planning to build a 100,000-plus-square-foot facility at the county airport to host sporting events such as youth soccer tournaments. Developers Jamie Sutton and Bob Buglak have presented the concept for the complex in Lower Township and to the county commissioners.
Morey was told that if he wanted to discuss the resolution he would have to make a motion to remove it from the consent agenda and place it on the regular agenda.
“I’ll make that motion,” Morey said, but none of the three commissioners present offered a second.
When Morey asked Desiderio how he could allow his request to go without discussion, Desiderio told him his motion did not receive a second.
“You could have seconded it,” Morey said.
Desiderio immediately seconded the motion, and in the following roll-call vote, Commissioners Bobby Barr, Melanie Collette and Desiderio all voted no. Vice-director Andrew Bulakowski was absent.
“I felt that it was time to move on from this,” Desiderio told Morey.
Morey said he was generally in favor of the direction the county was going under the memorandum of agreement, but added that he would have liked to discuss certain specifics of the agreement.
“I had very little time to review this, but it’s not a long agreement, so I could get through it,” he said.
County Counsel Jeff Lindsay advised Morey that any resolution, if it is to be discussed, should be moved from the consent agenda to the regular agenda. A consent agenda is a list of resolutions or ordinances that are considered routine in nature and that are going to be voted on as a block. They are generally not subject to discussion.
With his fellow commissioners unwilling to talk about the resolution, Morey voted no on all 32 resolutions on the consent agenda. He said that did not seem to be a practical way to proceed.
“So, there’s not even a shred of curiosity as to the questions I might have about this?” Morey asked. “Just a measure of business experience that might be beneficial for the board to hear might not be correct? I’ve been doing this for a few years. I think I can contribute something to it.”
Morey said he had a “pretty good sense of what’s going on at the airport,” but added that the sports complex was not really an airport-related issue but was closer to recreation-related, which is where his business background is centered.
“How is it that you wouldn’t offer me the courtesy of moving this to the regular agenda so I could ask those questions?” he said.
Morey continued to ask, incredulously, how the board could refuse to engage in discussion on the matter until Barr called for Desiderio to put an end to his comments. Morey told Barr he was talking to Desiderio, not him.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Carolyn Rush, recently an unsuccessful candidate for the state Assembly, questioned why the commissioners declined to address Morey’s request.
“You don’t think that the people have any right to understand why one of the commissioners is being, I don’t know, disrespected by the others?” Rush asked.
Desiderio said there was a vote, and they exercised their rights as members of the board.
“There was absolutely no disrespect meant at all,” Collette said in response to Rush’s question.
“I felt disrespected, just to be clear about it,” Morey said.
Rush continued, “I understand that you had a vote and you followed procedure and that you’re allowed to vote no to something that you don’t want to hear, but I guess my question is, why do you not want to hear what one of your fellow commissioners has to say? That, to me, seems disrespectful.”
Morey said the commissioners had been seeking to build a $28 million sports facility at Cape May County Park-East, which is across from the Route 9 entrance to the zoo. He said there had been some discussion on whether the board should engage with the Aviation Sports Complex, a private project. Morey said his questions centered around the duration of the agreement.
He also had questions about the $1 million payment from the county to the developer and the absence of a cap on what the facility would charge the county.
“It indicates that the county puts up money and the various municipalities get to utilize those services at a discount, but it doesn’t suggest that one year there couldn’t be a 50% increase. So is that situation considered within the agreement?” Morey asked.
Morey said that the suggestions he was prepared to make were “easy fixes,” but no discussion was forthcoming from the board.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
