Bakley-Marino Appointed County Counsel

CREST HAVEN — Barbara Bakley-Marino was appointed county counsel for three years, until July 13, 2013, by freeholders on Tue., July 13.
The vote was not unanimous.
Her father, Freeholder Ralph Bakley Sr. was absent, recovering from knee surgery, and did not cast a vote.
Some things to remember to set the stage for the vote to appoint Bakley-Marino:
• She had been acting county counsel since predecessor, John Porto’s appointment as Superior Court judge earlier this year.
• She had also held the title of county Human Resource director.
• Her father and his running mate John McCann, backed by the county Republican organization, lost a bitter June 8 primary election to Freeholder Gerald Thornton and running mate Susan Sheppard.
Minutes prior to the vote on Bakley-Marino, Thornton cast a vote against county management increases. He voted for raises that were called for by union contracts with other employees and non-union county workers. He said policy decisions, such as management raises, ought to be discussed at open work sessions.
When the time came to consider Resolution 540-10 to appoint Bakley-Marino, Thornton said, “Again, I want to make the point there was no discussion on appointing county counsel. I got a letter dated today, July 13, outlining the appointment and an opinion from labor counsel.
“Why was there no discussion? Why are we in a hurry to appoint a permanent county counsel?” Thornton asked.
Director Daniel Beyel said Bakley-Marino had been in an acting counsel capacity for the past six months.
As he had previously stated, Beyel told Thornton that the appointment had been listed on the agenda the prior Thursday.
“It makes no difference if was posted Thursday or Friday, when has the board met to discuss any of these issues on the agenda? When was there free dialog along the board and the freeholders with open discussion? You have not answered these questions,” Thornton said.
“There is no mechanism by which we can express ourselves,” he added.
Again, Beyel disagreed with Thornton’s conclusion.
He said it could have been discussed over the telephone with Administrator Stephen O’Connor or himself and peers.
“It is very difficult to have a discussion in a public meeting,” said Thornton. He said that in consideration of the Open Public Meetings Act, known as the Sunshine Law, which limits discussion of personnel matters in public unless the person, who is the subject of the discussion, consents to that public discussion.
Asked by Beyel to what he most objected, the letter from labor counsel or Bakley-Marino, Thornton replied, “I am objecting to a major appointment without a discussion made point over point again.”
When the vote was taken, Thornton voted no.
Voting to appoint was Beyel, Vice Director Ralph Sheets and Leonard Desiderio.
Bakley-Marino’s salary will be $110,260 annually. She received an additional $3,500 for the counsel’s position before she got the management raise of 3 percent. Effective July 1, her salary was $107,049. With merit and equity increase, and management increase of 3 percent it will total $110,260.
Although listed on the resolution under Human Resources as director, her title will simply be County Counsel, according to Administrator Stephen O’Connor.
Many human resource director duties will still be under her domain, he added.
In order to avoid hiring a replacement for the human resource director, the county will reorganize that department.
Functions will be split between the existing human resource office, the Treasurer’s Office and the Administrator’s Office.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com