C HARTER COMMISION 3/14/2013

Former Mayor Mark Fury; the architect of the PMUA, and former Councilman Rashid Burney appeared before the Charter Study Commission last night.

Burney appeared first; his comments like many of his predecessors suggested that there was nothing really wrong with the present Charter. It might need some tweaking but nothing major.

The question of should the Council have separate legal representation once again was a point of concern. Burney like several others who have testified felt it should be considered since the Corporation Counsel who serves at the will of the Mayor has a conflict of interest.

In contrast to Burney’s low key appearance was Fury’s Vaudeville show. There was a great deal of meat in his remarks but also interspersed with anecdotal commentaries and histrionics..

Fury agreed with previous interviewees Gibson and Bash that the Corporation Counsel because his job is to represent the city should also represent the Council. If there was a conflict the Council could have special Counsel for that problem.

However Fury’s concern was one unusual from a lawyer; if both Administration and Council had separate attorneys there would be a great risk of frequent law suits. Hence, this could represent a great expense to the city.

Fury explained his reorganization of the three Departments leaving Public Safety to hold only Fire Department and Police Department with a Civilian director over the Police Department as a necessity due to the demographics of the Police department at the time of racial distress in the city.

Getting off the subject matter; Fury remarked that one of the greatest factors that have had a negative influence on Plainfield is the deterioration of the School System, and the lack of public information and knowledge about its operation. I agree with Fury that a BOE appointed by the Mayor would be best since it made one person ultimately responsible for the performance of the system. This is of course not part of the charter.

Since it is difficult to describe Fury’s testimony I would hope that the tape transcription will be readily available.