Politics & Government

West Deptford Township Committee Due In Court for Suit on Sunoco Deal

Gary Kuehnapfel is suing the committee for its refusal to disclose the terms of a $15 million settlement with Sunoco.

Arguments on on a on property taxes at Eagle Point will be heard in less than two weeks, after a Superior Court judge signed an order to show cause earlier this week.

The will have to present its side April 12 before Superior Court Judge Eugene McCaffrey and try to convince the court Kuehnapfel’s suit shouldn’t go through.

Kuehnapfel, a Gloucester County College employee who is represented by Democratically connected Turnersville attorney John Trimble Jr., to stop the township from taking any further action on the settlement.

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His suit also seeks to void the settlement agreed to in two closed-session meetings and prohibit the state Local Finance Board from reviewing the deal and taking any further action, and requests a court-appointed monitor to ensure the township complies with the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

Trimble said previously the suit boils down to a lack of transparency in how the settlement was handled.

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“I don't understand why they're trying to hide the terms of the settlement,” Trimble said earlier this month. “It flies in the face of what the Open Public Meetings Act is all about.”

Kuehnapfel has issued only one statement on the suit, but it echoed what Trimble said—that the course the township committee took was unacceptable.

“I am fed up with the public's business being conducted behind closed doors,” Kuehnapfel said in the statement. “The tax appeal litigation is too important to West Deptford's taxpayers to be settled without transparency to the public.”

West Deptford Mayor Ray Chintall has said there wouldn’t be further comment from the township committee in regards to the suit, but said the township is committed to upholding OPMA and keeping to state guidelines.

“Compliance to the law is paramount in my mind and the rest of the committee,” Chintall said.

He’s also said no details of the settlement will be released until it’s final.

“This governing body will not jeopardize the future negotiating capabilities of the residents of this township by revealing the details of this settlement of this litigation until we know that this deal is finalized,” earlier this month.

Part of that finalization includes the state Local Finance Board signing off on the settlement, which can’t happen until April 11—the board’s next meeting—at the earliest, the day before the township committee is scheduled to be in court. An agenda for that board’s April meeting has yet to be released.

Meanwhile, on a similar dispute with Coast/El Paso, ’s former owners, over their challenge to property taxes at the refinery complex.

That meeting will happen Tuesday night at 7 p.m.


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