A near-sweep of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority's board of commissioners fell through Monday when the City Council rejected four mayoral nominees.
In public comment before the vote, several PMUA staffers pointed out the authority's recent accomplishments and said the current commissioners should be kept. But after the council grilled nominees on their intentions and views regarding the PMUA and then voted them down, resident Dottie Gutenkauf deplored a $1 million settlement that commissioners approved for two former executives.
"It makes what's left of my blood boil," Gutenkauf said, noting employees were then forced to take furloughs and layoffs.
"I think it is past time that you got those people who made the settlement off the board," she said.
Nominees Nan Anderson-Bennett, Thomas J. Crownover, Charles Tyndale and Thomas A. Kaercher were quizzed by Council President Bridget Rivers on whether they had taken part in any "anti-PMUA activities," how long they had lived in the city and whether they remembered how the city looked before the PMUA was established, alluding to the level of trash often cited as the reason for the authority's inception.
Councilman William Reid alleged that Mayor Adrian O. Mapp had vowed to dismantle the PMUA in 2005 and asked each nominee whether Mapp had to spoken to them about doing so. Nominees were also asked whether they agreed with the PMUA practice of employing former prisoners.
"I believe in second chances," Anderson-Bennett said.
Crownover called the authority "one of the most important agencies in the city, "such a substantial body that it ought to be handled with great consideration."
Asked what he would do the make the agency better, Crownover said he would get rid of a recently-imposed wage freeze by perhaps making the authority more efficient.
Speaking after the interviews, Mapp said, "We must bring transformational change to the PMUA," but all four nominees were rejected 5-2, with Cory Storch and Rebecca Williams voting "yes" and Reid, Rivers, Tracey Brown, Gloria Taylor and Vera Greaves voting "no."
In a separate vote earlier, the council did agree to give PMUA Commissioner Carol Ann Brokaw another term, with only Greaves objecting.
Anderson-Bennett would have replaced Commissioner Harold Mitchell. Crownover was to succeed Commissioner Malcolm Dunn, while Tyndale was named to succeed Commissioner Alex Toliver and Kaercher was to succeed Cecil Sanders as Alternate No. 2. Mitchell and Toliver are holdovers and Dunn's term expires Feb. 1, after which he will be a holdover.
Dunn, Toliver and Sanders voted to approve the $1 million settlement for former executive Director Eric Watson and Assistant Executive Director David Ervin. Sanders was an alternate at the time, but was later given a full term, causing the vacancy in the alternate seat. Had all the nominees been approved, Sanders would still be on the board as a full commissioner.
The special meeting also included nominations to other boards and commissions. Linden Barrat, Carrel Martin and Robert Bolmer were appointed to the Human Relations Commission. Charles L. McRae, Rich Sudol, Jim Spear and Mary E. Burgwinkle were named to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
On the Planning Board. Police Lt. James Abney was reappointed and the council also approved Emmett Swan and Sean McKenna. New appointees to the Plainfield Advisory Committee on Hispanic Affairs are Flor Gonzalez, Maritza Martinez, Carlos Ponton and Libia Saavedra Price. Mari Bonini and Victoria Rappold were reappointed to the board of the Plainfield Public Library and new members areDonna Sandorse and Lamont Blowe.
--Bernice
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