According to NJ code, one of the primary function of a Municipal Ethics Board is:
To enforce the provisions of the municipal code of ethics and financial disclosure requirements with regard to local government officers or employees serving the municipality and to impose penalties for the violation thereof ...
Teaneck's Ethics Board has chosen to ignore it's responsibility which is reflected in the 2015 - Local Government Officer - Roster for Teaneck thats shows that 20 of the 75 required to file Financial Disclosure Statements failed to do so. It includes the chairs and the majority of the appointed members of the two most powerful statutory boards in Teaneck, the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment.
40A 9 19-22 NJ Municipal Ethics Board - code change for establishment, organization and powers of Municpal Ethics Board. It includes:
Each municipality of the State may, by ordinance, establish a municipal ethics board consisting of six members who are residents of the municipality, at least two of whom shall be public members. The members of the ethics board shall be appointed by the governing body of the municipality. ... The members of the municipal ethics board shall annually elect a chairman from among the membership.
Teaneck Ordinance 3312 - Ethics Board -10/22/91 - reconfigured Teaneck code to comply with new state code. The same is reflected in the following ...
Chapter 2. Charter/Administrative Code -
Article XXIX. Municipal Ethics Board - the ordinance and code are mostly consistent with the state code with one significant difference. Whereas the state code quaranteed that at least two members of the board would be members of the public, Teaneck's code says, "and at least two of whom
shall be local public officers or local public employees."
Teaneck Code of Ethics 08-15-2009
208-2013 Resolution E. Authorize Appointments to Boards - 09-10-2013. Appoints members to various Boards including the Ethics Board - page 2. It reads:
NOW THEREFORE IT BE RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Teaneck that the following residents are hereby appointed to the Ethics Board:Leonard Fuld, Chair
Louise Williams, Vice Chair
Heidi Fuchs
Angela Barker
This appointment does not reflect the code in several particulars. Members of the Ethics Board are meant to be appointed to staggered 5 year terms. Also, the Teaneck code specifically states, "The members of the Ethics Board shall annually elect a Chairperson from among the membership and may, in their discretion, annually elect a Vice Chair and such other officers from their membership as are deemed to serve their purposes." There is no authority for the council to appoint officers.
Minutes of Ethics Board 05-20-2014 The board did not elect any officers. Listed as a member is Teaneck Employee Rep (Police Chief?). This reflects the absence of former Chief Robert Wilson who had been a member but had resigned from Teaneck's police force. Neither he nor Ken Katter also listed as a member were residents of Teaneck and therefore not qualified. Also, neither were ever "appointed by the governing body of the municipality."
Appointment Letters to Ethics Board - May 11, 2015 - Manager William Broughton appoints to members of his staff to the Ethics Board for which he has no authority as they can only be "appointed by the governing body of the municipality." One of those members, Ken Katter, is still not qualified as he is not a Teaneck resident.
Minutes of Ethics Board 05-27-2015 - No action of any kind taken including the election of officers. It does accurately note that one member resigned. The two non-members appointed by the manager attended.
Page from Current Advisory Board Book - Ethics Board - includes a statement, "Twp. Code. Art. XXIX Sec 2-146 (a) (2) (b) (c). Twp Manager recommends/appoints two (2) Township employees." that does not accurately reflect the code it cites.
Ethics Complaint and Cover Letter from Tom Abbott 04-03-2016
Ethics Complaint from John Paff - 05-09-2016 - attached 2015 roster not posted
This appears to be the other complaint referred to in the May 20 Record article referred to below.
Teaneck ethics board gets its first cases since the 1990s - The Record 05-17-2016
Article is mostly about an anonymous and bogus complaint lodged against then Councilman Alan Sohn. There is also mention of Tom Abbott's complaint at the end.
Minutes of Ethics Board 05-18-2016 (Minutes are misdated as May 5) Video
According to the minutes:
"It was determined that the Board has the ability to hire counsel and under rule 5.2, an investigation must be initiated within 30 days. Moreover under rule 5.3 the Board has to make a determination, in writing, regarding any ethical breach. The accused officer or employee must be provided with a chance to appear and answer."
Ethics board in Teaneck to hire attorney for complaints - The Record 05-20-2016
Note that the Ethics Board does not appear to have followed up on any of the statements made to the reporter.
Letter from Ethics Board to Teaneck Local Government Officers 07-28-2016 According to email records this was sent by the clerk on 08-25-2016.
No further public action was taken on any complaint despite clear legal and ethical obligations to do so. No inverstigation was initiated nor was a written determination made. Not only were accused officers and employees not provided a chance to answer. They were not even informed that a complaint was made. The Ethics Board did not hire an attorney for the complaints as they stated they would at the meeting and as they told the Record reporter. There only apparent action was to send out the above letter. They did not appear to make any attempt to follow up on those who continued to ignore the requirements.
At a future meeting Chair Fuld stated that if Financial Disclosure rules were enforced it would be impossible to find anyone to volunteer.
Minutes of Ethics Board 04-10-2019 Decision made to "Pursue dissolution of the Ethics Board"
Letter to Council 05-07-2019 Requesting council to "terminate the Teaneck Ethics Board and in lieu thereof allow municipal ethics
complaints to be handled by the state Local Finance Board."
Both the letter above and the article below reference state senate bill S342 that would eliminate municipal ethics boards. It passed the Senate in 2016 but never made it out of committee in the state assembly. As S729, it has also been approved by the Senate in 2015 but had also died in the assembly. Though it had passed the Senate unananimously, when reintroduced in 2018 as S506, it never made it out of committee.
Minutes of Ethics Board 06-18-2020