Thursday, February 28, 2013
Resident Gary Kuehnapfel claimed three West Deptford GOP committeemen broke open meeting laws, but a judge ruled otherwise. The mayor called Kuehnapfel's lawsuit politically motivated.
West Deptford officials—including two who hadn't taken office yet—did not violate state laws by holding a private meeting discussing town business, a judge ruled this week. Superior Court Judge Eugene McCaffery Jr. ruled against West Deptford resident Gary Kuehnapfel's lawsuit that a Dec. 28, 2011, meeting violated the Open Public Meeting Act (OPMA) and the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The meeting included Deputy Mayor Sean Kilpatrick and Raymond Chintall and Samuel Cianfarini, then committeemen-elect, as well as township attorney Anthony Ogozalek and Brandon Umba, a West Deptford Republican Party member. Kuehnapfel filed his complaint on June 28, 2012, alleging that the Republican township committee members had conducted secret …
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Thursday, September 20, 2012
Arguments over whether closed-door meetings prior to January's reorganization meeting violated state law will be heard in court.
Five months after a judge ruled West Deptford’s entire township committee violated the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) in failing to disclose the terms of the initial version of the Eagle Point settlement with Sunoco, the committee’s three Republicans will be back in court Friday to defend themselves against another alleged OPMA violation. The suit, filed by Gary Kuehnapfel, who was also the plaintiff in the Sunoco settlement suit, targets the majority of the committee—Mayor Ray Chintall, Deputy Mayor Sean Kilpatrick and committeeman Sam Cianfarini—for alleged closed-door dealings ahead of the township government’s reorganization in January, where the Republicans allegedly interviewed prospective township professionals and decided on a new…
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The suit alleges at least one secret meeting held by the three Republicans prior to the Jan. 5 reorganization.
A township resident who previously won a suit against the township committee over alleged violations of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) has surfaced again, this time filing a suit against the Republican township committee members over alleged secret meetings with prospective township professionals at the end of 2011, claiming they once again violated OPMA. Gary Kuehnapfel, who won his suit in April regarding the Eagle Point settlements, filed another Tuesday, this time claiming the three Republicans violated the law by conducting interviews as a quorum, citing as proof a Dec. 23, 2011, letter to Traveler's Insurance, as well as a meeting with at least one township professional in the lead-up to committeeman Sam Cianfarini and Mayor Ray…
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The township is looking for approval on bonds to fund a settlement with Sunoco, but may have to wait for a final call.
West Deptford could have the approval it needs from the state in just days for at least one settlement over property tax disputes at Eagle Point, if a pending lawsuit doesn’t tie things up. The township has $34 million worth of refunding bonds—including $15 million to fund the settlement with Sunoco—on the agenda for next week’s state Local Finance Board (LFB) meeting, but the lawsuit could push approval from the LFB back to May or June, township officials said. “Things are still up in the air,” Mayor Ray Chintall said. The LFB is scheduled to meet the day before the township has to appear in court and argue against a lawsuit filed by township resident Gary Kuehnapfel—a suit that seeks to nullify the settlement with Sunoco on the grounds …
Friday, April 6, 2012
Action on the tax appeals has ground to a halt ahead of a court date next week.
There’s a new wrinkle in the lawsuit filed against the West Deptford committee over the $15 million settlement with Sunoco on tax appeals at the Eagle Point complex. On top of going after the township committee, West Deptford resident Gary Kuehnapfel’s suit now targets the state’s Local Finance Board (LFB), Mayor Ray Chintall said Thursday night. “Now they’re going after the state of New Jersey,” Chintall said. A planned Tuesday night special township committee would’ve allowed the committee to amend their application to the LFB to include a potential settlement with Coastal/El Paso, the former owners of Eagle Point in time for the deadline for the April 11 LFB meeting. That township committee meeting was cancelled immediately after being …
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Gary Kuehnapfel is suing the committee for its refusal to disclose the terms of a $15 million settlement with Sunoco.
Arguments on a lawsuit that seeks to slam the brakes on a $15 million settlement with Sunoco 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 West Deptford township committee 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., sued earlier this month to stop the township from taking any further action on the settlement. His suit also seeks to void the settlement agreed to in two closed-session meetings …
Friday, March 9, 2012
Despite calls for more information, the committee stuck to its position that no details can be released about the $15 million settlement over taxes at Eagle Point.
The West Deptford township committee isn't budging. Despite being under fire from Gloucester County officials seeking more information on the $15 million settlement with Sunoco on Eagle Point and being hit by a lawsuit from a township resident for allegedly violating the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the committee stayed mostly silent on the issue at Thursday night's work session. Most of what was said came from a lengthy statement from Mayor Ray Chintall, which rehashed many of the same points—including the committee's inability to comment on pending legal matters—that have come up since last week's approval of the settlement. He touched on the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request from the county, as well as the OPMA lawsuit, saying …
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Attorney John W. Trimble Jr. said West Deptford's township committee mishandled the settlement process in not disclosing the terms of the deal at its approval.
A lawsuit filed by a West Deptford resident that could slam the brakes on a $15 million settlement over the Eagle Point refinery property with Sunoco alleges a series of violations of the Open Public Meetings Act that boil down to a lack of transparency in the settlement's approval, plaintiff's attorney John W. Trimble Jr. said Wednesday. “I don't understand why they're trying to hide the terms of the settlement,” said Trimble, who represents resident Gary Kuehnapfel in the suit. “It flies in the face of what the Open Public Meetings Act is all about.” Kuehnapfel, a Gloucester County College employee, claims in the suit the Republican-majority West Deptford committee violated OPMA by failing to disclose those terms. While Sunoco officials …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A resident has filed a complaint in Superior Court over January and March closed-session meetings in a bid to stop a $15 million property tax settlement.
A West Deptford resident has filed suit against the township committee in Superior Court over closed-session tax settlement discussions about Eagle Point, including a January closed-session meeting with Sunoco officials, that allegedly violated the state Sunshine Law, in a bid to prevent the $15 million settlement from advancing. Gary Kuehnapfel filed the suit Tuesday via his attorney, John W. Trimble Jr., of Turnersville-based Trimble & Armano, alleging the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) violations, which were first reported on Patch earlier the same day. “I am fed up with the public's business being conducted behind closed doors,” Kuehnapfel said in a release from his attorney's office. “The tax appeal litigation is too important to …
LostWDPride
4:07 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Gerry White and company signed off with the words on the loan "unconditional", which meant the bank could do whatever they please...and ultimately the township still had to pay that loan...even if 4 million was not for construction. Please read the facts before you speak. You are embarrassing good WD Democrats. more ›