MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMITTEE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF WANTAGE, HELD AT THE WANTAGE TOWNSHIP MUNICIPAL BUILDING, 888 STATE HIGHWAY 23, WANTAGE, N.J. ON THE DATE OF MARCH 17, 2005

Mayor Parker Space called the meeting to order, and requested the Clerk to call the roll. Upon roll call, the following members of the governing body were present: Mayor Space, Committee members Parrott, DeBoer. The following members were absent: None. Also present: Municipal Attorney Richard Clark.

Mayor Space led the assembly in the Salute to the Flag.

Mayor Space stated, “This meeting is being held in compliance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act, Public Laws 1975, Chapter 231. It has been properly noticed and posted to the public, and certified by the Clerk."

Mr. Doherty stated that the Mayor and Committee shall discuss a matter involving the employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion or disciplining of a specific prospective public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body. In accordance with the provisions for exclusions listed under the Open Public Meetings Act, this discussion may take place in closed executive session.

PERSONNEL HEARING
Mr. James Shevchenko asked Ms. Badja if she is would like to request the meeting be closed to the public for this hearing. Ms. Badja stated that she would prefer the hearing be held in open session.

Mr. Doherty made reference to Notice DPF-31A regarding Ms. Bernice Badja, Animal Control Officer, and requested the Committee consider termination of Ms. Badja for reasons outlined in the specifications:

Mr. Doherty stated Specification #1 as follows:

Ms. Badja was responsible for a discrepancy regarding the number of dogs vaccinated at the free rabies clinic held in November 2004. 189 dog owners have presented proof of vaccination from the November clinic, but only 177 doses of vaccine were utilized according to the written reports contained in the December 2004 Minutes of the Township Board of Health. Per a verbal conversation with “Maureen” of the Sussex County Health Department, 400 doses of vaccination were available for the clinic. Of those 307 doses, 177 dogs and 130 cats were vaccinated.

There are two discrepancies to reconcile, the difference between the 189 or 177 dogs which were vaccinated, and the fact that there are only 161 rabies certificates on file with the Township from the clinic.

No formal report was submitted to the state regarding the actual number of animals vaccinated during the clinic. A separate investigation will be conducted by the Administrator at the next meeting of the Board of Health.

When Ms. Badja was questioned as to where the remaining doses were located, in an attempt to ascertain the true number of animals which were vaccinated during the clinic, she informed Mr. Doherty that the remaining doses were spoiled when the refrigerator was inadvertently unplugged. She further explained that those spoiled doses were taken to the Port Jervis Humane Society in December 2004 with some animal remains for cremation. The animals and the spoiled rabies vaccine were incinerated together.

Accountability is not possible between the 189 residents providing written verification of vaccination, and the 177 doses reported by the Board of Health. There are no reports located at either the DPW Department’s Dog Pound Facility, the Municipal Board of Health, the County Board of Health or the State of New Jersey, to verify the number of doses of vaccine that were destroyed.

This inability to reconcile the number of animals vaccinated during the 2004 Rabies Clinic, the lack of reporting the destruction of the remaining doses of vaccine and the inadvertent unplugging of the refrigerator which housed the vaccine reflect carelessness on the part of Ms. Badja. More importantly, all these items taken together result in a public health concern if there are dogs located within the Township that have not been vaccinated.

In 2003, Ms. Badja was given a letter by Mr. Doherty specifically requesting better accountability during the rabies clinics.

Mr. Doherty stated Specification #2 as follows:

When Ms. Badja licensed her dogs for 2005, it became apparent that she had two animals, Josh and Biscuit, who had been unlicensed since November 2004. Ms. Badja is required by her job to uphold the ordinances governing dog licensing within the Township and her own failure to abide by the rules she is paid to enforce clearly demonstrate conduct unbecoming a municipal employee.

In 2001, Ms. Badja was given a letter by Mr. Doherty resulting from a complaint regarding a dog bite incident involving one of her pets. This letter stressed the importance that all future complaints be reported to the Administrator immediately. This letter explained the need for Ms. Bajda to fulfill her responsibilities as a pet owner in a manner above suspicion or reproach, so that no appearance of impropriety or favoritism could be charged by the public. Ms. Bajda’s failure to license her own dogs represented a failure to comply with this responsibility.

Mr. Doherty stated Specification #3 as follows:

When Ms. Badja licensed her dogs for 2005, there was a willful deception in an attempt to exact personal gain when she asked the Assistant Animal Control Officer, John Abate to place her renewal package on the Assistant Clerk’s desk where it could not be immediately found. This incident would result in Ms. Badja avoiding late fees if the Assistant Clerk used the January 31st date of the check. If not it would at least delay payment of over $50 in late fees until Ms. Badja was in a better financial position to pay those fees. This incident rises almost to the level of fraud.

Mr. Doherty requested that the Committee consider termination of Ms. Badja for carelessness and conduct unbecoming a municipal employee.

Ms. Badja was given the opportunity to speak on her own behalf or through her representative Mr. Shevchenko.
A lengthy discussion ensued where Mr. Clark swore in as witnesses, Ms. Badja, Mr. Doherty, Christine VonOesen, Assistant Clerk, John Abate and William Robert Crum, Jr., Assistant Animal Control Officers, and members of the public Pamela Crum, Pamela Carrollo, and Debra Talbot who wished to speak on Ms. Badja’s behalf. Mr. Clark also entered into evidence the following exhibits: voucher for Port Jervis Humane Society, photographs of the refrigerator at the pound, copies of report of dog licenses issued for 2001 and 2002, a petition signed by over 200 residents in support of Ms. Bajda, documentation from Mr. Plaza from the Sussex County Division of Health that he came to the Wantage Pound on 2/28/05 to pick up the remaining vaccine from the November 2004 clinic, and a memo from Mr. Doherty dated May 20, 2003.

Mr. Schevchenko focused upon the premise that Ms. Badja was not responsible to account for the amount of animals vaccinated at the rabies clinic, she was not responsible for returning the remaining vaccination to the County, and that the electric in the pound was not adequate and could be the reason the remaining vaccination was spoiled.

Mr. Doherty presented his memo of May 20, 2003 to show that Ms. Badja was indeed informed that she was accountable for the proper paper trail to verify the results of the free rabies clinic.

Ms. Badja offered the voucher to the Port Jervis Humane Society which was dated January 10, 2005 showing 502 lbs of cremation waste as evidence for the destruction of the spoiled vaccine. Mr. Parrott asked if there was any documentation from the Humane Society as to disposition of hazardous waste, verifying the amount of vaccination they received. Ms. Badja stated that there was not, it was included with the 502 lbs. of waste. Mr. Space then explained that he is required to account for every animal and every drug used for each animal and stressed the importance of accountability.

Ms. Badja then offered four photographs of the refrigerator which also showed the presence of an extension cord. When asked why the extension cord was there, Ms. Badja stated that there were only two outlets in the Pound. One was for the freezer and the other one, which is used for the refrigerator, is the only one available for other uses such as shaving an animal before it is euthanized. Mr. Crum later attested to the fact that this is indeed the only available outlet. Since he has seen from as little as 5 to as many as 80 people at the pound at one time, he feels it is quite possible that the refrigerator could have been inadvertently left unplugged during a busy period.

Ms. Badja claimed that she did come into the office in November to license her two dogs, Josh and Biscuit. At that time Ms. Von Oesen told her that she was having problems with the dog licensing program on her computer and she could license those dogs when she came in to renew the licenses for her other dogs. Ms. VonOesen was then questioned as to this fact and stated that she did not recall informing Ms. Bajda that she could wait to license her dogs, but she did have problems with her computer and may have told Ms. Badja to wait. Ms. Von Oesen stated that in this context, she would have meant that it would be okay to wait until the beginning of December 2004, the earliest 2005 licenses could be issued. She in no way meant to suggest that it would be permissible for Ms. Bajda to wait until the mid to latter part of February 2005.

Ms. Badja was then asked to explain the events which took place regarding her renewal package for her 2005 dog licenses. Ms. Badja stated that she had written her check on January 31, 2005 and left it on her desk. A few weeks later, she found the envelope on her desk and asked John Abate to put this on the bottom of the pile on Chrissy’s (Ms. VonOesen’s) desk.

When questioned as to why she would say that, Ms. Bajda claimed that she did not want to go ahead of others who had already been waiting and that it would give her more time to pay the late fees on the overdue licenses. Ms. VonOesen was then asked what had transpired and she stated that when Mr. Abate had brought the envelope to her, she was concerned since she felt that Ms. Badja had purposely attempted to blame Ms. VonOesen for losing her check in the past to avoid late penalties. Although she had no physical proof of this, she had on many occasions checked for Ms. Badja’s check in the beginning 2004 in a place where it suddenly appeared in March of 2004. Because of her suspicions from 2004, she brought the 2005 renewal package to Mr. Doherty to open. This was on February 24, 2005, and the check was dated January 31, 2004.

The conversation shifted to Mr. Abate regarding what had transpired. Mr. Doherty stated that when Mr. Abate was questioned regarding the envelope, Mr. Abate stated that Ms. Badja asked him to put the envelope on Chris’s desk “somewhere where it would not easily be found” when he went to the municipal building to clock-out around 6pm on approximately February 17.

When Mr. Abate was questioned as to why it took him so long to deliver the envelope, he said that he was struggling with his conscience. Although he did not want to cause problems for Ms. Badja whom he has worked under for the past two years, he also did not want to see Ms. VonOesen feel she had been remiss in her duties. When asked which version of what Ms. Badja asked was true, he stated that when first questioned by Mr. Doherty, he was nervous and paraphrased what he felt the intent of Ms. Badja’s request was. He did finally state that he is certain that what she really said was “on the bottom of the pile” on Chris’s desk.

Mrs. Crum and Ms. Carrollo spoke about the chaos which takes place at the rabies clinics and attested to the fact that it is unclear who is in charge of the clinic. Mr. Crum and Ms. Carrollo stated that volunteers with little to no experience have given away all copies of the Rabies Vaccination Certification and that could have resulted in the discrepancies between the numbers of dogs vaccinated and the number of slips present.

Ms. Carrollo also spoke on Ms. Badja’s behalf regarding her help finding lost pets. Ms. Talbot spoke on Ms. Badja’s behalf regarding the chaos of the clinic and her feelings that there was nothing done intentionally. She praised Ms. Badja by asking how many persons would come to your house at 3:00 am to remove a skunk from your backyard.

The Committee thanked everyone for their input and Mr. DeBoer explained that he has also received his share of complaints regarding Ms. Badja. Mr. Parrott and Mayor Space spoke regarding the lack of accountability and the importance of setting a good example as the person in charge of animal control within the Township.

Ms. Badja admitted that perhaps she used poor judgement regarding the renewal of her 2005 dog licenses. Mr. Schevchenko stated that this hearing failed to provide proof of guilt, Ms. Badja never said that she was trying to avoid late fees, there was an error of judgement which does not justify termination, and they would like the Committee to reconsider termination. He then presented the petitions which Mr. Clark took as exhibits.

As there was no one else from the public who wished to come forward, Mr. Parrott made a motion to close the meeting to the public and enter into executive session. Mr. DeBoer seconded the motion. Upon roll call, Ayes: Space, Parrott, DeBoer Nays: None Absent: None Abstain: None

After meeting in closed executive session, Mayor Space called the meeting back to order and the governing body continued with the regular order of business.

Mr. Parrott made a motion to suspend Bernice Badja for three days for conduct unbecoming an employee by harboring unlicensed dogs, an additional three days for conduct unbecoming a public employee in attempting to deceive a public official, and three days for carelessness in the performance of duties, for a total of nine days suspension without pay. This suspension will become a permanent part of Ms. Badja’s personnel file, and the results of this hearing will be forwarded to the State Department of Personnel. An investigation into the practices and procedures of the rabies clinic will also be reviewed by Mr. Doherty for proper accountability. Mr. DeBoer seconded the motion. Upon roll call, Ayes: Space, Parrott, DeBoer Nays: None Absent: None Abstain: None

OPEN PUBLIC SESSION
Mayor Space opened the meeting to the public at this time, for any questions or comments involving the good and welfare of the community.
There was no one from the public who wished to come forward.

There being no further items for the attention of the governing body at this time, Mr. Parrott moved to adjourn the work session meeting. Mr. DeBoer seconded the motion. Upon roll call, Ayes: Space, Parrott, DeBoer Nays: None Absent: None Abstain: None

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James Doherty, Administrator Clerk