COURT HOUSE — Middle Township Committee Monday took steps to repeal an ordinance responsible, in part, for over $30,000 in legal fees.
In April 2007, the township adopted a measure that allowed a local sand and gravel mining company to tie the retirement of its current license for operations on Goshen Road to a proposed site on Indian Trail Road in Burleigh.
Albrecht and Heun and its subsidiary Future Mining and Recycling, the companies in question, are currently before the township zoning board for the proposed operation’s site plan approval.
A lawsuit was filed against the township and other entities by Joseph Ravitz and Lee Romm. Ravitz is the township tax assessor who owns a property with Romm adjacent to the proposed site. They have opposed the project for several years.
The lawsuit alleges conflicts of interest among public officials regarding Future Mining issues particularly in approving the ordinance allowing the mining license transfer.
Because questions of conflicts were raised in April 2007, Mayor F. Nathan Doughty, Township Solicitor James Pickering and Engineer Vincent Orlando recused themselves from the proceedings.
The lawsuit, however, states that Pickering, Orlando and committee members “had a duty to disclose the details of any actual or potential conflicts of interest to the public and each failed to do so.”
Pickering has maintained that no conflicts existed.
“We were acting overly cautious to remove any appearance of conflicts,” he said last year regarding the recusals.
Based on the conflicts, the lawsuit sought to void Future Mining’s licenses.
By repealing the original ordinance, the township hopes to save taxpayers some legal fees. According to Committeeman Stephen Barry, the bills related to this lawsuit have risen to approximately $30,000.
The repealing ordinance stated that conflict issues “could involve days and possibly weeks of depositions, thereby increasing the already extensive litigation costs being borne by the township.”
“Special Counsel [John Gillespie] has recommended to the township committee that it simply repeal the existing ordinance with the option in the future to enact new legislation, thereby saving thousands of taxpayer dollars by avoiding unnecessary depositions and legal time,” the ordinance continued.
On Monday, Doughty stepped down from the dais as Barry and Deputy Mayor Susan DeLanzo introduced the repealing ordinance.
Committee also approved a special public meeting to be held on Dec. 22 at 6 p.m. to consider the repeal.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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