UCCF 1/25/18: Roselle Mind & Body Complex Status

There used to be a banner at the site:
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Not there any more:
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and at the last freeholder meeting:
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UCCF 12/21/17: County Out Of Roselle Project

Tonight was supposed be the last hurdle in getting the building of the Roselle Mind and Body Complex moving as Union County was scheduled to have a second reading of an ordinance to guarantee the Roselle Board of Education’s portion of the bonding for the project.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

Lawsuit Proceeds; Roselle Complex Doesn’t

Judge Robert Mega ruled yesterday on whether the lawsuit by Anthony Esposito against building the Roselle Mind & Body Complex can continue.

Lawyering Up Roselle Mind & Body Complex

Ordinance 701-2017 extending an additional $24 million to Union County’s guarantee of the bonds for the Roselle Mind & Body Complex boondoggle included these conditions:

Appearing on tonight’s agenda setting meeting agenda was this item on page 13 of 15:

4. A resolution appointing Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein & Celsco of Whippany, as special counsel in a matter relating to the Mind and Body project in an amount not to exceed $5,000.

Adding more troops to the battle:

 

UCCF 12/7/17: Another County Guarantee for Roselle Mind & Body Project

Tonight’s freeholder meeting had an executive session, which resulted in the First Reading of a new Ordinance that did not appear on the agenda, which resulted in some comments. Here is the story as told in videos:

County Guarantee for Roselle Mind & Body Project To Be Discussed Tonight – In Secret

The November 30, 2017 agenda setting meeting ended with:
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Apparently they didn’t talk everything out last week as tonight’s regular freeholder meeting agenda starts off with:

And the meeting will kick off with:

Roselle Mind and Body Complex – The Numbers

The official numbers on the tax impact of going ahead with building the Roselle Mind & Body Complex were supposed to be released the day after an emergency meeting was held to vote on moving the project along:
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Here is what appears on the Roselle website as being ‘the numbers’:

DeCotiis Out; Symcon In

For a quarter of a century Union County Democrats could count on various incarnations of the DeCotiis law firm and the lawyers working there to make campaign donations. According to the NJELEC website it came to $549,376 out of a total to all politicians of $3,615,540. But after being cut off as lawyers for the Union County Improvement Authority earlier this year it appears that Decotiis has also cut off Union County politicians.

However, there is no shortage of donors to replace the DeCotiis money as a new one seems to be Symcon Enterprises, Inc of Matawan which has been sowing some seeds lately.

The internet does not have much information on Symcon Enterprises, Inc. but it is a safe bet that, whatever their services are, the Roselle Mind & Body Complex will somehow be in need of them.

Paying to Lawyer in Roselle

Rachel M Caruso, Esq. serves as the Roselle borough attorney, though not with the wholehearted backing of the mayor.

Dansereau also wants to replace Roselle Borough Attorney Rachel Caruso with Tracy Cosby. The mayor’s plan prompted Shaw to question Dansereau’s motivation. “Has anyone heard of any problems with the current borough attorney?” she asked. “How was the new attorney vetted?”

Dansereau said she no longer trusts Caruso. “The borough attorney works for the mayor,” she said. “I have to trust their legal advice. She represents me. The current attorney does excellent work, but the trust was lost. The lines got blurred between friendship and legal. There are reasons that I’m not at liberty to discuss. There are issues outside the borough of taking direction from someone outside.”

She is also a partner at Roth D’Aquanni, the attorneys for the Roselle Board of Education.

According to the NJELEC website Rachel Caruso individually has made $6,650 in campaign contributions:

Contributions linked to the name Roth Daquanni alone totaled $117,079.

Any conflicts here? Not according to Rachel Caruso:
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Roselle Emergency Meeting Videos

Tomorrow we are supposed to get (a) a decision on whether the Anthony Esposito lawsuit against the Roselle Mind and Body Complex can proceed and (b) the official amount that this project will cost taxpayers, as determined by the ‘professionals’ benefiting from the project.

Tonight, even without that cost number revealed, there was a vote and a lot of public comment. In order of appearance: