Dear Editor:
My name is Andy Choffo, and I’m the Parsippany -Troy Hills Board of Education president. The other board members who spoke tonight and I are speaking alone. We are not representative of the Parsippany BOE. As Mrs. Golder alluded to, the Council President and past and current board members have supported the mayor’s campaigns. We have knocked on doors, walked, and called on his behalf. He encouraged this political activity when it benefited him; only now that his support has turned to his opponent is this activity not allowed and irrational. Mayor, that is a textbook definition of a hypocrite. Barberio and Inglesino, Inglesino and Barbaria, this dynamic duel of destruction continues to harm the town. The Barberio bungled high-density housing projects, and he negotiated, we’ll harm our town. Make no mistake. I am going to refer to these developments as Barberio’s Bungalows.
Barberio’s Bungalows will enrich Attorney Inglesino and the developers with tax breaks paid for by the rest of us.
Let’s talk about the audit and this auditor, Frank DiMaria and Associates. Council, what specific concerns the Township has about the school’s budget? I’ve never heard anything. For the Township to take the extraordinary action of spending taxpayer dollars auditing the school district, surely something specific must be of concern. Or is the Mayor seeking taxpayer-funded political retaliation as a pretext for the sham audit?
This is not an independent audit. The township has no legitimate authority to audit the school district. This is a political retribution unleashed by an unhinged Mayor with tacit approval by this council. It’s a taxpayer-funded hatchet job.
Now, let’s get back to the audit of Frank DiMaria. And to the Barberio and Inglesino Dynamic Duo of Destruction, we now add Frank DeMaria and create the Triad of Treachery—three chummy people. DeMaria is the CFO of Belleville. Inglesino is the redevelopment attorney for Belleville. Inglesino, Barberio, and DiMaria, the Triad of Treachery. Further, Inglesino and DeMaria also represent Hackettstown. It’s very chummy indeed.
Council President, what was the vetting process for hiring this “independent” audit firm? Were other firms interviewed? I suspect not. I suspect this was a Barberio Inglesino setup from the beginning that was something like this.
“Hey, John, it’s Jamie. That school board’s pissing me off. What can we do to stop this? Well, Jamie, maybe we can hire an auditor, and they can find something in their budget. John, it’s a great idea. Let the township pay them thousands; they’ll find something for you there. OK, great.” Because this is a sham, this auditor, DiMaria and Associates, was a school district auditor for Lyndhurst. Despite being their auditor for years, the DiMaria and Associates firm failed to uncover a district deficit of $4 million. That audit firm failed. The Lydhurst School Business Administrator and the DiMaria and Associates firm were removed, or in other words, they were fired, and a state monitor was inserted.
And this is who Barberio wants to bring to our town.
Dear friends and town council members, did you know that the last township audit uncovered a severe concern that “would enable a person to perpetuate errors and prevent detection within a reasonable period.”
The town should correct its documented order deficiencies instead of creating lies about the school district.
In conclusion, we have learned that Barberio will lie to protect his political position, create a false narrative about merit to serve a vision and be inept or worse in negotiating with developers to develop Barberio Bungleo’s all over town. He’s happiest when neighbors battle his whim without question. Barberio deflects to others to cover up his own administration’s failures.
Mayor Barberio, you are failing at your job. The residents of this township deserve better.
Andy Choffo
