Hamilton council ‘riced’ health director Jeff Plunkett
HAMILTON >> After getting charged with animal cruelty and official misconduct, Hamilton’s embattled health director Jeff Plunkett faces potential disciplinary action at work.
Hamilton Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night authorizing the legislative body to hold a special closed meeting to discuss matters of personnel.
The so-called Rice notice meeting, scheduled for June 17, will take place in the open if and only if Plunkett requests a public hearing. Otherwise the three Democrats and two Republicans on Hamilton Council would discuss Plunkett’s job performance in a closed session. Plunkett could request he be allowed to attend a council closed meeting discussing his employment.
Under state law, namely the Open Public Meetings Act, governing bodies like Hamilton Council may not consider disciplinary action against any public employee who has not been properly Riced. Thus, Hamilton Council needed to issue a Rice notice to Plunkett to legally discuss his employment in open or closed session. A Rice notice is named after Regina Rice, a plaintiff in a landmark New Jersey Superior Court case concerning the rights of public employees.
Michael Balint, Hamilton’s law director, carefully explained the Hamilton Council resolution Tuesday night without mentioning Plunkett by name.
“Council has requested that we schedule a disciplinary hearing for one of the directors in the township,” Balint said. “The resolution sets the hearing date for that pursuant to the statutory requirements. That hearing is scheduled to be conducted in a closed session. The meeting that night is only for that purpose.”
“The individual who is the subject of the disciplinary hearing does have the right to request that it be conducted in open session,” Balint added. “Should he do that then we would re-notice the meeting assuming we have enough time, which we should. It would be noticed in the newspapers as an open public meeting.”
Plunkett and former Hamilton animal shelter supervisor Todd Bencivengo have retained private counsel to combat allegations they illegally euthanized hundreds
of pets before waiting the state-mandated seven days.
Bencivengo, 56, of North Hanover, and Plunkett, 62, of Hamilton, were each arrested and charged May 3 with two counts of third-degree animal cruelty and one count of second-degree official misconduct following a nine-monthlong investigation by Mercer County prosecutors.
Bencivengo retired from township employment effective March 1.
Plunkett as of Wednesday remains on the job as Hamilton’s health department director and officer. A bipartisan Hamilton Council subcommittee report into the animal shelter found the facility suffered from mismanagement, and the report suggests that Hamilton’s health officer should not be allowed to simultaneously serve as director of health, which is currently the case with Plunkett.
“The Health Officer is supposed to be overseen by the Director of Health, Recreation, Senior Services and Veterans Services,” the Hamilton Council subcommittee report states. “It is our recommendation that the roles of Director of Health and Health Officer be separated.”
The New Jersey Department of Health inspected the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter last summer and cited numerous deficiencies, including the facility’s widespread practice of euthanizing certain cats and dogs before waiting the state-mandated seven days. DOH later found the shelter in “satisfactory” condition during a Jan. 15 re-inspection.
Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede on Wednesday defended the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter and Plunkett.
“Last year, we promptly addressed every cited issue at our shelter and made additional improvements that include a new supervising veterinarian, expanded volunteer opportunities and moving towards what is commonly referred to as a ‘no-kill’ model for our shelter,” she said in a statement. “Additionally, we have implemented a new shelter organizational structure. But based upon the Council’s recent action, we must ask if the Council is seeking to discipline Mr. Plunkett over the fact that our shelter humanely put down terminally ill pets, brought to the shelter by their owners, rather than making these pets suffer in pain for seven days? For decades, long before Mr. Plunkett assumed the duties of director, our shelter historically provided this same service, before we discontinued accepting ownersurrendered pets.”
At Tuesday’s Hamilton Council meeting, Republican Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer accused Yaede of having “no interest” in changing the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter for the better.