Sussex CC board never voted on hiring law firm
By Nathan Mayberg
NEWTON — When Sussex Community College President Paul Mazur called upon Saiber, the Florham Park-based law firm to investigate a $2.88 million contract between the college and Echelon Services, the college's trustees were not informed until a retainer had already been signed, trustee Dan Perez alleges.
The board never voted on whether to hire the firm.
Mazur said in August that he brought on the firm in June on his own at a rate of $250 an hour.
Last month, the college received a bill from Saiber for $54,036.77 for its report on the board's actions in approving the sole bid for renovation work on its student center.
Perez, a local attorney, said the board was not notified of the firm being retained until July 8.
The retainer had been signed on June 30.
There was no discussion by the full board about the retainer before Mazur brought on the attorneys, Perez said. The board never voted on the hiring.
In its report, Saiber's lawyers cleared the college's handling of the $2.88 million bid by Echelon, as well as most of the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contracts with CP Engineers, a firm which had ties to three board members.
The firm did recommend revoting on two contracts with CP Engineers due to abstentions on votes by board members who had conflicts with the engineering firm. Two of those board members, Glenn Gavan and Glen Vetrano, have since resigned.
The engineering firm had drawn up the designs for the renovation project, increased the cost estimate by more than $600,000 and increased their own cost for the project by $93,800 to a total of $450,200, bringing the total estimated cost for the project to more than $3.3 million. Perez sent a letter last week to board chairwoman Lorraine Parker, the board's trustees, Mazur and college attorney Katherine Gilfillan, questioning whether the contract with the law firm is valid.
He cited the college's own bylaws which state "no claim or demand shall be incurred or paid unless it is authorized by law or by the board, and funds thereof have been appropriated by the board."
He also referred to another section of the by-laws which reads "a licensed practicing attorney/s at law of the State of New Jersey shall be retained by the Board to render legal services as needed."
Another section states the "board shall oversee all legal aspects of its operation."
Saiber was brought on to handle the investigation since the college's own law firm, Florham Park-based Schenk Price Smith & King, had a conflict as the attorneys for Echelon Services.
Another law firm, Morristown-based Courter, Kobert & Cohen, had also cleared the contract but it was later disclosed the firm had worked with Echelon Services, Perez said.
Parker, a lawyer and former judge who co-founded the college, provided a copy of a letter she wrote in response to the one sent by Perez, in which she criticizes him for providing his letter to the media.
In the letter, Parker wrote to Perez, "Since we have been particularly transparent on this matter, having addressed it both privately with you and (publicly) on a number of occasions, I see no reason to address it again here. Moreover, you are not legal counsel to the Board and your legal opinion, although generously given, is not binding on the Board or the administration. Our credibility is restored by our continued transparency and openness with the public, our continued responsiveness to the Open Public Records Act and our continued efforts to maintain open communication among Board Members. You, of course, are at liberty to raise whatever issues you choose and the Board will address them as the Members see fit. I remind you that we act as a Board, not as individuals, although you have apparently decided to act individually in providing the press with an advance copy of your letter before all of the Board Members had an opportunity to see it."
In response to an interview request, Parker wrote in an email that she has "nothing to add" about the hiring of Saiber.
Perez said he has not received any answers to questions he has raised about the hiring of Saiber.
"By what authority can the president hire a law firm to investigate trustees?" Perez asked.
Perez also took issue with a July 18 meeting of the executive committee, which at the time included Parker, Gavan and board treasurer Jerry Scanlan. That meeting involved discussions on the Saiber investigation according to the meeting's minutes. But when the full board met on July 28, there was not a mention of those discussions, Perez said. Perez said he did not learn about those conversations until it was disclosed in the minutes approved by the board on Sept. 20.
Perez said that when Mazur provided the board a copy of letters in June from Courter, Kobert & Cohen, which approved the board's handling of the bidding process for its student center project, he was told by Mazur that he was not allowed take a copy home. He said he was blocked by Gavan from asking questions.
On Sept. 22, the board voted to approve a new two-year contract for Mazur at a salary of $171,899. Perez abstained while the rest of the board members present voted to approve the contract.
Mazur had not returned a message seeking comment on this story as of noon Wednesday.
Board member Kathleen Yasovic, an attorney with the Newton-based firm of Dolan and Dolan, declined to comment.
"I'm not going to be commenting on anything involving the college," Yaskovic said on Tuesday.
Perez was appointed by the Sussex County Board of Freeholders in May and has called upon the college to sever its ties with CP Engineers in light of the reported conflicts. He was the only board member to vote against the contract with Echelon Services and abstained in September on votes to reauthorize contracts with the firm.