Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sam Cerciello's comment was disrespectful, Carmen Pico said.
Two friends found themselves at odds at Monday's Borough Council meeting after one suggested the council president step down over the governing body's controversial, since-reversed, decision to dismiss Borough Administrator Ray Codey to save money, and the other found the suggestion disrespectful. Carmen Pico, who ran for a seat on the Board of Education last year, and Sam Cerciello, a former councilman who endorsed him in his bid, consider themselves good friends. But that didn't stop Pico from chiding Cerciello during the public comments portion of Monday's Borough Council meeting for what he saw as Cerciello disrespecting Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto by suggesting to the governing body she resign. The Borough Council's 4-2 vote …
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
"Now is the time to put things behind us and move forward as a community," recently reinstated Borough Administrator Ray Codey said.
In his first Borough Council meeting since being cut by the governing body in an unexpected and controversial 4-2 vote last month and then reinstated after an outcry by residents, Madison Borough Administrator Ray Codey said it's time for Madison to move forward as a community and that the town's future is bright if it works together. At the start of the meeting, Codey thanked Madison for bringing him back. He also thanked Assistant Borough Administrator Jim Burnet, who had said in a public meeting he felt Codey was the better person for the administrator job, for his leadership in the more than three weeks Codey was in employment limbo. "It's great to be back. It's even greater to be a Madisonian," Codey said during Monday's meeting, held…
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Madison's borough administrator, returned to work Thursday after the Borough Council rescinded a controversial vote to remove him
Ray Codey is happy to be putting the last three weeks behind him. Asked about being cut by the Borough Council in an unexpected and controversial 4-2 vote last month that was rescinded Wednesday night, Madison's borough administrator said he is a student of history, but prefers to focus on the future. As for Madison's future, he's focused on meeting with department heads, generating revenue for the town and ensuring several roads projects and other capital improvement projects are completed on time and on budget, he said. His coworkers marked his first day back working since the Feb. 27 meeting with balloons and baked goods. After the council voted unanimously to reinstate him Wednesday night, he received about 20 texts from people at the …
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Hartley Dodge Memorial Municipal Building
50 Kings Rd, Madison, NJ
/articles/ray-codey-madison-admin-again
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Governing body voted unanimously to bring Codey back after identifying savings that could affect other personnel.
Corrections: While Borough Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto said the council and administration would be implementing changes to save money, it wasn't clear how many other council members support the possible cost-saving measures and whether they would actually be approved. Madison is in Legislative District 27. Ray Codey has been reinstated as Madison's borough administrator after spending more than three weeks in employment limbo. The Madison Borough Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to reinstate Codey as borough administrator after officials identified alternative "management actions" that could lead to savings in the 2012 budget. His reinstatement was met with applause from supporters who filled Council Chambers in Hartley …
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-74.416048
Hartley Dodge Memorial Municipal Building
50 Kings Rd, Madison, NJ
/articles/codey-reinstated-by-council
1860196
/locations/6724178
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
If governing body sees alternatives to removing Ray Codey, they'll discuss them Wednesday, Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto said.
All options—including alternatives, should there be any, to the removal of Borough Administrator Ray Codey—will be considered during a special budget meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening, Madison Borough Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto said. The meeting is being held because the council tabled its planned budget introduction last Monday, along with resolutions finalizing Codey's removal, which was to be incorporated into the 2012 budget as way to save money, saying the budget needs more consideration. The first meeting at which the public had advance notice to comment on the issue of Codey's removal drew so many attendees the meeting was moved to the Presbyterian Church of Madison. More than a dozen residents, including former and …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
When Jim Burnet heard the assistant administrator position was expected to be cut, he figured he was gone—not Ray Codey.
Madison Borough Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto said the news that Ray Codey was being fired as borough administrator for budget reasons was delivered in an emotionless way on the advice of the borough's attorney. She said firing someone is always difficult, and in the public sector the law makes the process even more complicated. "I have agonized over this more than anyone can imagine," she said during Monday's Borough Council meeting. Borough attorney Joseph Mezzacca Jr. said Codey and assistant administrator Jim Burnet were notified their positions were at risk of being eliminated. Prior to the public portion of the meeting, they learned the assistant borough administrator position was expected to be cut. Burnet figured he would be …
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Woody Kerkeslager said changes could mean administrator doesn't need to be cut.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Former Madison Mayor Woody Kerkeslager, who has said the firing two weeks ago of former Borough Administrator Ray Codey was not the Madison way, during Monday's Borough Council meeting pointed to two places in the borough's working spending plan that he said could lead to possible savings or additional anticipated revenue. He said such items—including a new $300,000 charge for borough electricity bills that he said is unnecessary—would mean the administrator position would not need to be eliminated. The Borough Council is expected to further consider the budget and personnel decisions. A copy of Kerkeslager's statement is below. I have three points I’d like to cover concerning the budget and personnel processes used and decisions made by …
Dismissal of administrator and subsequent uproar hurt Madison's reputation, credibility and ability to get things done, school board president said.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Borough Council's dismissal of borough administrator Ray Codey could not have come at a worse time in the district's Green Village Road School sale, a process in which Codey took a leading role, Board of Education President Lisa Ellis said. Ellis said Codey and Jim Burnet, who is taking Codey's place under the council's not yet finalized plan, "have worked harder than any two people I have ever known for a town they live in and love." A copy of Ellis' statement, read during Monday's Borough Council meeting held in the Presbyterian Church of Madison, is below. Three minutes is not enough to express the enormity of my disappointment in your decision to dismiss RayCodey. Those who know me well know that I can be a bit relentless when l …
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The Presbyterian Church of Madison
19 Green Ave, Madison, NJ
/articles/ellis-codey-burnet-work-harder-than-anyone
60598
/locations/6581602
Council tabled resolutions and ordinances related to the budget and the removal of Ray Codey, saying the budget and positions need more consideration.
The Borough Council tabled resolutions and ordinances related the 2012 budget and borough administrator Ray Codey's firing at its Monday meeting, saying the spending plan and positions need more consideration. Mayor Robert Conley said he is hopeful that means the governing body will ultimately rescind its resolution to terminate Codey, and that he wishes the resolution would have been rescinded Monday night. No one who spoke during the public hearing said they were in favor of Codey's removal for budgetary or any other reasons. Some echoed Bill Cole, who said the council dug itself into a hole with the unpopular decision to fire Codey and that it should "stop digging." So many people attended the first Borough Council meeting to discuss …
40.756885
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The Presbyterian Church of Madison
19 Green Ave, Madison, NJ
/articles/codey-removal-not-final
60598
/locations/6576063
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Codey's dismissal unlikely to be rescinded.
The agenda for Monday night's borough council meeting remains unchanged and the termination of Borough Administrator Ray Codey is unlikely to be rescinded, officials said this weekend. According to Borough Attorney Joe Mezzacca, an updated agenda will be posted Monday on the borough's website. Mayor Bob Conley said the meeting, which will begin at 8 p.m., will remain in Council Chambers with reconfigured seating that will accommodate 110 people with additional seating set up in the hallway, if necessary. The agenda still contains two resolutions pertaining to the Feb. 27 surprise move to consolidate the borough administrator and assistant borough administrator positions, Conley said. The first resolution will be to dismiss Codey, who was …
Steve Wells
1:14 pm on Monday, April 16, 2012
A lot of people missed this due to spring break last week (I was among them). But, for the record, Cerciello was in no way being disrespectful by saying that many people had told him they thought Tsukamoto should resign in the wake of the failed Codey coup. It would be naive to think she would relinquish her Council seat, but her clandestine actions as Council President -- behind the backs of two… more ›