'There is no transparency': Red Bank borough attorney fired, mayor blindsided

RED BANK - With an hour's notice to Mayor Pasquale "Pat" Menna, four members of the Red Bank council voted to fire the borough attorney, Gregory Cannon, the latest example of infighting between two factions battling for political control of the town. 

“(As) a matter of courtesy and a matter of decency and legal efficacy,” Menna said, ‘I would have expected — perhaps we don’t use that term any more — that some members of the council would have contacted me and (said), 'This is what we want to do.' You have the majority to do it.’

Council members Edward Zipprich, Michael Ballard, Jacqueline Sturdivant and Angela Mirandi, who often vote together on issues, voted to terminate Cannon, who was hired in 2017. Zipprich declined to discuss the reasoning during the council meeting. In an interview after the meeting, Zipprich said, “I really can’t discuss it because it’s a personnel matter. But I can tell you that for me, individually I lost full faith and confidence in Greg’s ability to perform his duties.” 

Council members Kathy Horgan and Kate Triggiano voted against firing Cannon. Horgan countered Zipprich's view, saying “Greg Cannon was a great attorney” and said both Triggiano and herself were only notified of the intent to fire Cannon shortly before the meeting and neither were involved in the decision making. 

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This tension comes at a time when political control is in flux. The faction led by Zipprich has a 4-2 edge on the all-Democrat council, and that could rise to 5-1 after the November election in a town where Democrats usually beat Republicans. His faction, which also controlled the local Democratic Party, refused to endorse Menna for a fifth four-year term as mayor, nor did it endorse Horgan for another term on the council, and both of them decided not to run in the Democratic primary.

But in the June primary, newcomer Billy Portman ran against Zipprich's faction and defeated its choice for mayor, Ballard. Additionally, an alternative slate of Democrats won enough votes to take over the local Democratic Party, ousting Zipprich and replacing him with Triggiano as its head.

In the six-member council, a majority of four votes is needed to pass ordinances and resolutions. The mayor only votes in the event of a tie. 

Cannon could not be reached for comment. 

Menna and members of the public who attended Wednesday night’s meeting questioned the transparency of the decision making. 

“So much for transparency at least by two transparency advocates,” Menna said during the meeting. 

Red Bank resident Sue Viscomi said, “I really wish you guys would be transparent and let us see these resolutions.”

The council faced two resolutions Thursday night. The first would terminate Cannon's work and the second would hire an acting attorney, Scott Salmon. 

Neither resolution was on the agenda, blindsiding many. 

Menna said, ‘This should have been vetted. This should have been brought out, should have been published. None of that has been done by some people around this table and in the audience who keep on saying, 'Oh, oh transparency.' There is no transparency. It is bad. It is bad politics. It is bad legally.’

Horgan later said in an interview, “It’s just a sad, very sad way to run the borough and very irresponsible. … They’re not transparent. It’s not a way to govern.” 

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While the council had enough votes to fire Cannon, Menna blocked the votes appointing Salmon from taking place. 

He cited state law that gives mayors the authority to appoint municipal attorneys. 

“Since nobody has spoken to me about it, nobody whispered it to me,” Menna said during the meeting, “I am exercising my prerogative to not move on this resolution. If the council wants to do anything after that, you've got 30 days to get your act together and do what you want to do in appointing anybody you want.”

Menna said after 30 days, the council could vote to override the mayor, but the council could not vote on the resolution that night. Menna said it was unusual for an employment contract to come attached with a resolution to hire a potential borough employee. 

“In 34 years on this dais,” Menna said. “This has never happened before. In Republican or Democratic administrations, liberal or conservative or nihilist, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s the wrong thing to do.” 

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Salmon was an attorney hired by the borough to defend the appointment of Mirandi, who became councilwoman after the resignation of Erik Yngstrom in January. Yngstrom generally voted with Horgan and Triggiano, so his departure gave Zipprich's faction the edge of control of the council.

Menna said because of that, Mirandi will be ineligible to vote on Salmon’s appointment.  

Zipprich said, “It is my strongest recommendation that we not leave the borough without representation because all of the matters considered by the borough would then be scrutinized.”

‘You sound like the defendant at the bar, who is charged with murder of a parent and tells the judge, 'Please Judge, have mercy on me because I’m an orphan,'" Menna said. He said in the meantime, Cannon retains the right to be an acting attorney and the other borough contracted attorneys could step in. 

“Don’t say that I’m leaving the borough in a difficult situation when you have schemed, have put this on the table at the last minute and you’re the one that put the borough in a difficult position, not me,” Menna said. 

Horgan, who had filed and later dropped the lawsuit seeking to remove Mirandi from the council, questioned whether Salmon could be neutral in representing the council. 

“This also smacks of quid pro quo,” she said at the meeting. “I’m definitely against this.” 

According to the lawsuit, neither Horgan nor Triggiano were informed of a vote by the local Democratic Party in nominating a successor to fill Yngstrom's vacant seat.

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Zipprich defended the resolution to appoint Salmon, saying he had previously been vetted by the borough and was representing the borough in the lawsuit to remove Mirandi. 

Menna also questioned Salmon’s appointment, saying he “gave an opinion to the majority (referring to the four council members who often vote together), favorable to the majority, representing the borough.” 

Ballard asked Menna to reconsider his position, saying he is ready to vote for Salmon at the next meeting. Ballard declined to comment. 

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.