Sayreville councilman’s disparaging remarks were erroneous

As a member of the Sayreville Environmental Commission since Jan-uary 2000, I feel compelled to respond to Councilman Thomas Marcinczyk’s blatantly erroneous statements regarding the commission.

In the July 11 issue of the Suburban, Mr. Marcinczyk’s guest column alleged that the environmental commission engaged in misdeeds, manipulated meeting schedules, and ignored his requests to change its meeting dates.

First, our 2002 meeting dates were set at our December 2001 meeting. Many factors were taken into account in setting these dates, including every member’s individual schedule. Second, after receiving the request from Councilman Marcinczyk to change the meeting dates, we discussed it at our meeting. I can recall the only member who wanted to move the date from the first Monday of the month was Michael D’Addio. Third, the commission is required by state and local regulations to have four of its commissioners sit on other boards or committees. Finally, Mr. D’Addio was not appointed to our commission until January 2002 and did not attend his first official meeting until February.

To accuse the commission or any member of trying to frustrate Councilman Marcinczyk’s responsibilities or of engaging in a "political move to hide their misdeeds" is simply untrue.

In closing, there have been times when the environmental commission meeting has run past the Borough Council agenda meeting, and Mr. Marcinczyk could have attended part of the meeting. All members of the commission, along with the mayor and all council members, including Mr. Marcinczyk, are given copies of the minutes of the previous meeting every month, and they have been given a membership list that includes phone numbers, fax numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses.

If Councilman Marcinczyk is serious about the environmental concerns facing Sayreville, he is more than welcome to voice his opinion, either as a private citizen or an elected official, at any of our regularly scheduled meetings on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in Room 310 at Borough Hall. If he cannot get there until after his agenda meeting, I am sure the commission would be happy to fill him in on anything he missed. However, I think we would all appreciate if he refrained from erroneously disparaging the efforts of the environmental commission in the newspapers.

Robin A. Lukacs

Member

Sayreville Environmental Commission