Dear Editor:
After watching the September 12, 2017 council meeting tape and reading numerous newspaper articles, I had to write this letter.
What supposedly began in response to a request by council president Lou Valori for an update on the mayor’s folly – a politically motivated attack on a former police captain – turned into a campaign advertisement. The 20 minute rant by the township’s attorney John Inglesino at that meeting was despicable, unethical and should be investigated by the State Election Board.
Obviously, the township attorney has a lot at stake in this election.
In all of my many years of attending council meetings on a regular basis with former township attorneys Henry Luther and Judy Vernon I never, ever saw anything like what Mr. Inglesino did. Those attorneys conducted themselves professionally and respectfully to the sitting council members and speaking public.
Mr. Inglesino’s appointment as municipal attorney was not approved by the council but his position was protected by a loophole in the law that allowed the mayor to help him keep his $750,000 a year job. In addition to that astronomical fee, Mr. Inglesino’s law firm submitted and subsequently received payment of invoices with NJ sales tax charges in the aggregate amount of thousands of dollars. New Jersey townships do not pay sales tax!
How did this happen? It’s apparent the Mayor and his staff did not review the invoices. Did Mr. Inglesino’s law firm file and submit payment to the Division of Taxation? I don’t know but unfortunately I uncovered this scam well after the filing period.
Watch any of the council meeting tapes of the last eight years then ask yourself who’s running the town. It will be obvious that Mayor Barberio is just a puppet of Mr. Inglesino.
Seven years ago I vehemently complained about the sewer surplus being transferred to the general operating fund (remember the 52% increase in sewer charges in 2006). To date approximately $7 million has been skimmed and this has caught the attention of other municipalities that share sewer treatment services with Parsippany and are charged on a cost plus basis.
Where has this $7,000,000 gone? Astronomical legal fees, a lot of wasteful spending (how many clerk typists have been hired at town hall???), much higher administrative salaries than previous administrations and vehicle usage in violation of town ordinances to name a few of the mayor’s excesses. And let’s not forget the Aurora scandal and the millions being poured into four years of legal fees for the Captain Carifi witch hunt.
Each election year the mayor declares he has presented a “Zero Budget Increase” and even as he’s speaking those words he’s reaching into taxpayers pockets using sewer money to fund his bloated government.
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, should be Mayor Barberio’s motto. Parsippany with its fortuitous location, highway connections and natural geography, wetlands to rolling mountains is beautiful, but above the landscape too many devils roam.
To my former good neighbors from Lake Hiawatha to Puddingstone – Get Out and Vote November 7!
Roy Messmer
Former resident Glacier Hills
