June 10, 2008
Five sue Sparta over petition rejection
Local activists sought to repeal salary ordinance for municipal workers
BY JIM LOCKWOOD
Five civic activists are suing Sparta and its township clerk, claiming the clerk improperly rejected their petition to repeal a municipal-employee salary ordinance.
In a civil complaint filed last week in Superior Court in Newton and made public yesterday, plaintiffs Jesse Wolosky, Philip Lid, Aileen Shane, Anne Simkatis and Myron Leski name as defendants Sparta Township and its municipal clerk, Miriam Tower.
The lawsuit appeals Tower's May 9 rejection of the plaintiffs' May 7 petition to repeal a salary ordinance for non-union employees. The petition had 638 signatures, or more than the required threshold of 625 signatures, derived from 5 percent of registered voters in the last Assembly election, the lawsuit claims.
However, Tower rejected the petition because she determined it required 650 signatures. Furthermore, Tower found that the Faulkner Act does not apply to salary ordinances and protests against salary ordinances are limited to elected officials and managerial, executive or confidential employees.
The lawsuit claims Tower misapplied the 5 percent rule and the rejection was arbitrary and unreasonable. On May 10, the plaintiffs submitted 30 more signatures to correct the alleged deficiency and put the petition over the 650-threshold, but Tower determined the entire petition would have had to be resubmitted and more signatures could not just be tacked on, according to the lawsuit.
The suit seeks a reversal of Tower's rejection and a court order compelling her to accept the petition to begin the process of repealing the ordinance.
Tower could not be reached for comment. Township Attorney Thomas Ryan was not aware of the lawsuit but said, "I am confident that the municipal clerk's analysis and response to the issues pertaining to Mr. Wolosky's petitions are accurate and reliable."
The lawsuit is similar to a pending complaint that Wolosky, Lid, Shane and Simkatis filed in April against the township and Tower, claiming she improperly rejected their petition to allow residents to "opt out" of a new curbside trash collection that the petitioners opposed.
Wolosky also is leading a pending petition drive to recall three council members who voted for the trash plan.
