After Talk of Sanctions and Police Report Allegations, Montclair Councilor Considers Mayoral Run

Montclair, NJ – If Wednesday’s Montclair Council meeting was an episode of Survivor, it looked like the tribe wanted to vote Councilor Bob Russo off the island.

On April 12, the Council’s conference meeting included a last-minute addition to the agenda for an executive session. Councilor Russo walked out of the meeting, after public comment — but well before executive session — after challenging the defense and indemnification ordinance, introduced at the March 27 Council meeting. The ordinance would provide municipal employees, including the Township Council, with a paid legal defense either by Montclair’s legal department or an outside lawyer at the cost to the Township.

Before the indemnification discussion started, Mayor Sean Spiller made a curious statement regarding the ordinance.

“I was not present at the last meeting and did not partake in those discussions, so I will abstain,” said Spiller, who then left the meeting for the duration of the public hearing for the indemnification ordinance.

As Spiller was exiting, Russo asked if he was abstaining or recusing. Russo did not get an answer.

Once Deputy Mayor Bill Hurlock opened the public hearing, several residents spoke out strongly against the ordinance. Marianna Horta said the ordinance was way too broad and questioned whether an actuary had been consulted with regard to risk exposure. She also asked the council to amend the ordinance, stressing it should be limited to elected officials the public can vote out.

“The manager is not accountable to us. Department heads are not accountable to us. Records custodians are not accountable to us,” Horta said, adding how passing the ordinance could greatly increase the Township’s liability and legal costs for years to come.

Like Russo, Lani Somer-Padilla wanted to know why Spiller had to step out of the room. She said she was also “curious as to why this [the ordinance] is something that is coming up now. Why now?”

“Can we be clear on why Mayor Spiller had to remove himself? He voted on other things that he was not here for two weeks ago,” said Eileen Birmingham. “I find that very strange.”

Deputy Hurlock started to speak and Russo interrupted “Who’s gonna answer that? Two people have asked.”

“Actually Bob, if you give me a chance, I’ll get to it. Excuse me,” Hurlock said to Russo. Then he closed the public hearing and asked acting attorney Paul Burr to answer the questions from Somer-Padilla and Birmingham.

“I don’t believe anyone can answer why Mayor Spiller decided to recuse himself, that’s a personal reason he decided to do himself; it’s not a procedural one that we have an answer for. He will have to comment himself,” said Burr. “He did make a comment though that because he wasn’t here the last time this ordinance was introduced, that he thought he should recuse himself.”

“I didn’t hear him say recuse,” said Russo. “I heard him say ‘I’m abstaining’ and that’s the kind of thing I’ve been talking about — you abstain or you recuse. I did not recuse myself on this issue last time because I have nothing to do with it. I was not involved in this at all.”

“Recusal means you have to leave the room and you don’t participate in any of the debate,” said Russo. He then angrily gestured to Hurlock and Schlager. “You just keep shaking your heads about me. I helped you both get elected.”

“Whoa. Whoa,” said Hurlock. “I’m not shaking my head at you. I’m talking to my colleague.”

Russo yelled that Hurlock was rude. Hurlock said Russo was rude and asked him to stop.

Russo then went on to repeat what he said before, hitting the desk for emphasis.

“Recusal means you can’t sit in the room and participate in the discussion,” said Russo. “I abstained last time on this ordinance because I wanted to make sure I knew more about it.”

“If you look at it in a vacuum, philosophically other towns have done this. I happen to think these colleagues were misled. I happen to think it’s the town’s fault that they have problems, but I also think they should have known better and that I was one of the people who told people, ‘you can’t do that, you got a volunteer job, a small salary.’ It’s not a round-the-clock job. You can’t do this if you’re a part-time employee,” said Russo, alluding to the allegations in the Rao complaint that Montclair paid Council members’ health insurance even though the councilors did not work the documented 35 hours a week to be eligible under The New Jersey State Health Benefits Program (SHBP).

In December, Montclair Local reported that the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office had issued a subpoena to Montclair Township, seeking pay records, time sheets and attendance logs for Township Council members.

“I’m participating in this discussion, because I’m not gonna recuse, and I’m not gonna walk out. I don’t understand why the mayor walked out. I’m just baffled by the behavior up here,” said Russo.

Burr, who tried repeatedly to interject during Russo’s speech, corrected what he said a few minutes earlier.

“The mayor did say abstain, so he will be able to clarify whether it was an abstention or recusal. But even with an abstention, he is allowed to remove himself from the room if he decides not to participate,” said Burr.

“Why is the mayor of the town not participating in this discussion of a very important issue?” asked Russo. “I was the mayor, I understand the role of a mayor.”

Also commenting on the ordinance was Councilor Robin Schlager, who recently resigned from the Montclair Planning Board. She shared that when she was the Council’s liaison to the Planning Board, she was named specifically in a lawsuit against the Planning Board over the previous Lackawanna Plaza development. She was told by both the Planning Board attorney and the Township attorney that they could not help her and she would have to hire her own attorney. The lawsuit, after several years, was ultimately dismissed.

An indemnification ordinance would have afforded Schlager legal protection.

“That to me is the backbone behind this ordinance. I was lucky the case was thrown out,” Schlager said, adding she might have had to sue the Township to get her legal fees reimbursed.

Assistant attorney Gina DeVito reiterated some points she had made at the previous meeting about the indemnification ordinance. She said some questions were raised about the Township’s code, and when the legal department reviewed it, they found Montclair’s code was lacking a defense and indemnification ordinance.

“Other municipalities have this. Not all, but some do. They are varied as to what they cover and what they don’t,” she said, adding that Verona, Jersey City and Princeton have similar ordinances,” said DeVito. “It does not cover criminal conduct. There are a lot of grounds for refusal to provide defense listed in this ordinance.”

“It’s not the ordinance itself that’s the problem,” said Russo. “It’s the genesis of the ordinance. This only came up very late at the last meeting night. I don’t want to throw my colleagues under the bus,” Russo said as he stated at the the last council meeting. “Yes, you should have health care, Peter, and everyone else up here, but you shouldn’t take it from the town government, signing forms that say you worked 35 hours a week.”

During Russo’s speech, Burr tried to stop him from speaking several times, but Russo kept yelling over him.

“C’mon, C’mon. My wife is so fed up with you guys. So am I. Here’s the problem, Bill Hurlock, you asked for this thing to be put forward because you think you are going to have a lot of legal costs,” said Russo, hitting the desk repeatedly.

“That is absolutely not true,” replied Hurlock. “And you better watch that you don’t get sued now for libel and slander. Mr. Burr, this is ridiculous. First of all, the memo came out. I had worked with several of my colleagues working through this,” said Hurlock, as Schlager and Yacobellis both nodded in agreement. “Let’s be careful of the characterizations. There’s a surprise, you are attacking me again, Bob.”

“Well, you said I pushed you once,” Russo replied.

“I never said I pushed you,” Hurlock said. “I have the police report right here. Do you want to see it?”

“Can we bring this meeting back into decorum?” Burr asked.

“Yeah, laugh,” Hurlock said to Russo. “You assaulted one of my colleagues.”

“Let’s bring this meeting back into decorum and not have discussions about matters that are privileged and confidential and under potential litigation, under potential investigations,” Burr started to say.

“I’m trying to get the public to get the answers they want,” Russo interrupted.

“There is some information we can give the public that they deserve to hear and sometimes there is information that is privileged and confidential to the Township, so that it doesn’t bear liability, lose JIF coverage and cause the great residents of this town more tax burden,” said Burr. “Because there are council people who feel the need to speak out about confidential information.”

“Could Stafford be able to get coverage from this [indemnification ordinance]? That’s a question the public wants to know,” Russo asked. “Are we protecting a man we are trying to get rid of?”

“Mr. Burr, I think Councilor Russo’s behavior is far out of line and I would like to know what our options are, as a governing body,” said Yacobellis, as Russo continued to talk over him. “I think his behavior is extremely out of line.”

“So my behavior is out of line, huh Peter?” Russo said, turning to Yacobellis.

“I make a motion to adjourn,” said Yacobellis.

“Second,” said Hurlock. “And I’d like to know the options on sanctions.”

“See, they want to sanction me now, folks,” Russo said, addressing the public.

When it was pointed out that there was already a motion and a second on the indemnification ordinance and the Council still had to vote, Yacobellis withdrew his motion to adjourn.

Deputy Mayor Hurlock then asked for a roll call from the clerk.

Councilor Lori Price Abrams voted yes on the ordinance as did Hurlock, Schlager and Yacobellis. Russo voted no. Cummings was absent and Spiller was marked absent for the vote.

When Mayor Spiller returned to the meeting, he started reading the next ordinance on the agenda. Russo got up, spoke inaudibly to Burr, then put on his jacket and began to walk out of the meeting. As his name was called for a vote on the flood plain management ordinance, he said “absent.”

Long after Russo had left the meeting, and when the council returned from executive session, Mayor Spiller stated, “I heard the question was asked by one of my colleagues about abstain vs. recuse. Officially, I did recuse myself before and I think the record shows that and the actions show that.”

Spiller then made a motion to adjourn. He did not offer any explanation for why he recused himself.

While council colleagues appeared frustrated with Russo last Wednesday, Montclair residents who were in the council chambers during the meeting kept encouraging him to ask questions and get them answers.

Russo Excluded From Capital Improvement Vision Statement

The strife between Russo and his council colleagues was evident in another way Wednesday evening.

A press release, entitled “Mayor Spiller, Members of Montclair Township Council Consider a Vision for Future Capital Improvement” was emailed Wednesday night, as the meeting was still happening, at 9:30 p.m. (the same press announcement was sent Thursday morning to followers of Spiller’s email blast). The release stated that the Mayor and Council are reviewing capital improvement projects including repairing curbs and roads, rehabilitating fire facilities, improving Montclair Skate Park, constructing a new Clary Anderson Ice Arena, and building a new Municipal complex that would include a combination senior/community center.

Russo was not part of the Council vision statement press release. Every other councilor is quoted, but there were no quotes from him or any mention of him at all.

Russo said Wednesday he was never asked for any quotes.

In an email to Spiller Thursday morning, Russo writes “WHY WAS I LEFT OUT OF THIS PRESS STATEMENT..? Good luck to all of you who have excluded me from the Council, like the Republican Tennessee legislature tried to do to Justin Smith & Justin Pearson last week. I answer only to the people of Montclair!”

Russo, who called the press release a political move, said he never received a response from Spiller or an explanation as to why he was excluded.

Russo Says Police Report Allegations “Exaggerated and False”

The police report mentioned at Wednesday’s meeting refers to the night of the October 25 Montclair Council meeting. During that meeting, when the council moved into executive session to discuss a resolution putting Town Manager Timothy Stafford on paid leave, police were called to the the Montclair Municipal Building on a report of a verbal altercation between Schlager and Russo. When the council came down to vote on the resolution, police were in the back of the room. When the meeting adjourned, police officers asked Councilor Russo if he wanted to make a statement. He said he didn’t.

“I didn’t do anything but shout at them because they wouldn’t treat me with respect,” Russo stated that night outside in the parking lot. He then pushed past police to go back inside the building, saying that nothing had happened, and if someone thought something happened, he would apologize.

A Montclair police report from that night describes an altercation.

The report, written by Officer Webb, states: “Mr. Russo ignored Lt. Eng’s initial request to speak to him as he quickly exited the meeting room. Lt. Eng and I caught up to him outside at the rear exit doorway. Lt. Eng began by informing Mr. Russo that a report was going to be generated about the incident that took place between he and the other council members. Mr. Russo immediately became irate, flailing his arms, pointing at Lt. Eng and yelling. Mr. Russo then attempted to physically push past Lt. Eng, but was unsuccessful. Mr. Russo did not make physical contact. Lt. Eng again informed Mr. Russo that a report was going to be on file at police headquarters and asked him if he would like to give a statement regarding his account of the incident. After being asked numerous times, Mr. Russo refused to give a full statement, only saying “they got mad at me and started shouting at me, and I started shouting at them.”

Mr. Russo also stated “there was no incident tonight.” As Mr. Russo was about to be sent on his way, he again attempted to physically push past Lt. Eng in the direction of the other council members. I then grabbed Mr. Russo by the arm to hold his advance, but was immediately told to let go by Lt. Eng. Based on Mr. Russo’s demeanor. I believed he was going to escalate the altercation between the council members inside the building. Mr. Russo then went back to the first floor Council Chambers and continued to yell at the other council members. Mr. Russo then exited the building shortly after with his wife.

According to the police report, officers escorted Schlager outside “due to the fact that Mr. Russo had not yet left the parking lot. It should be noted that while outside Mr. Russo continued to yell at Mr. Hurlock before leaving the area.”

The report states that Schlager appeared to be “visibly shaken/upset from the incident.”

Schlager told the officers that prior to police units responding to the township building, all the council members were in a closed meeting in the second floor conference room. Schlager stated the members were all seated at a table and that she was seated two seats away from Russo.

Schlager, in the police report, stated that Russo then angrily got up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door to the room. She stated Russo then came back after some time. He was still visibly upset and stated he was just accosted in the bathroom. She stated he also said he “couldn’t take this anymore” and that he doesn’t trust or like any of the other council members. Schlager states she calmly responded to Russo, saying that if he really feels that way, he shouldn’t be a councilman anymore. She stated Russo then began to yell at her, stating, “How dare you?” and “I got you this job,” among other things.

Schlager alleges that while continuing to yell at her, Russo began to quickly walk towards her in an aggressive manner, got very close to her and was “continuously pointing his finger in her face aggressively.”

According to Schlager’s account, Deputy Town Manager Brian Scantlebury, Burr and Hurlock all stepped in between them and ushered Russo away from her. Schlager alleges that this seemed to upset Russo even more, and he aggressively walked toward her a second time.  Schlager stated the men again stepped in between them to usher him away, at which time the situation began to deescalate.

Schlager stated, in the police report, that while Russo was advancing toward her, she was very fearful that she might be physically harmed. She stated she did not believe Russo would strike her, but that he might push her or touch her. Schlager said Russo did not make any verbal threats of physical harm towards her. At the time of the report, Schlager stated she “is not fearful of any action or threats from Mr. Russo regarding this incident, but is also not comfortable being around him.”

According to the police report, Hurlock, Scantlebury and Burr corroborated Schlager’s account of the incident and stated that Russo’s alleged behavior has become progressively worse during the last year, citing other incidents of yelling and outbursts during meetings. In the police report, Hurlock stated Russo had pushed him once before but that incident was handled internally.

Russo, when asked to comment about the statements in the police report, said “Everything these folks have reported is exaggerated and even false. I may have shouted, but that was done to me. And saying ‘you should quit’ or ‘you shouldn’t be on the council,’ well, that was a very negative thing for her to say.”

Russo blames much of the discord and dysfunction between council members to disagreements over Town Manager Timothy Stafford, dating back to the Glen Ridge fire services agreement.

“The problems started with him,” says Russo of Stafford.

He calls the treatment he has received from his colleagues “elder bullying” and says his colleagues resist taking his advice and disrespect his opinion.

“They are disrespecting an elder statesman. I don’t have any regrets for speaking out, I get people answers,” he said. “There is a perception of a lack of transparency — hiding decisions, manipulations of the agenda — that is bringing a negative tone to meetings.”

And how about Russo’s treatment of his council colleagues?

“They may feel I’m not respecting them, but I’m trying to make them see what should be done. They don’t respect that I have 23 years of experience and knowledge. I’m not saying I’m always right, or that I behave the way they would like me to, but for me to be sanctioned or censored, well, let them do it. “

Russo admits his walking out of meetings has “occurred more often than I would like.”

Russo says he walked out during executive sessions at two other meetings due to “disrespectful treatment and strong objection to policy decisions.” He recalls two meetings where he left early because “I can’t stand the way things are being run from the management and legal side, not just the council side.”

Russo had planned to retire from the council at 24 years, which would be six terms, but now he is exploring running again, this time for mayor.

“I thought about leaving, and there are several people who want me out,” says Russo. “But there are also people all over town asking me to please run for Mayor or to stay on council. So, I am in an exploratory phase.”

Russo added he was also going to try to be more calm in the future.

Yacobellis sent the following comment to Baristanet, after publication:

“I like Councilor Russo a lot. Politically, we’re aligned most of the time. But I wish he would be more careful and thoughtful. When it comes to me, his comments were dishonest and I don’t appreciate it. I also think the public looks for calmness and effectiveness in their leaders and he should be striving harder for both attributes. Our council meetings shouldn’t be reality TV fodder.”