Animal shelter subcommittee holds second meeting Friday
HAMILTON >> Council Ileana Schirmer and Rick Tighe are putting the screws to Mayor Kelly Yaede’s administration.
The members of the bipartisan animal shelter subcommittee scheduled a second meeting for Friday at 2 p.m. to accommodate animal shelter manager Marian Munford, who skipped out on a subpoena to appear before the legislative body last week.
In a previous interview, Yaede accused the council members of “political pandering,” saying they knew Munford couldn’t attend an evening meeting because she didn’t have a babysitter for her 1-yearold child.
The administration has said Munford was willing to meet with council if they scheduled a daytime meeting.
Schirmer said Munford has no excuse this time as the meeting takes place during regular hours on a work day.
“If you’re on a salary, there are times you’re required to be at a meeting or event after hours,” she said. “Childcare issues, I don’t want to hear that. We called their bluff. We gave them Friday at 2 p.m. She is expected to show up. If she is not willing to show up, we will accept the mayor in her place.”
Hamilton hired Marian Munford in 2011 as a part-time animal control officer. She became a fulltime employee and was promoted to shelter’s assistant manager, according to a Hamilton Council subcommittee report.
Munford is the shelter’s senior-most employee and serves as the supervisor and top manager of the shelter following Todd Bencivengo’s retirement.
The subcommittee members scheduled the public meeting so they can grill Munford about what steps have been taken to improve conditions at the embattled animal shelter.
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 “numerous stray and surrendered animals” before waiting the state-mandated seven days.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal investigation after receiving a referral from the state Attorney General’s Office.
The investigation resulted in charges brought against two of Yaede associates, former health director and current health officer Jeff Plunkett and Bencivengo, the former animal shelter supervisor who received a $31,000 buyout package before the charges were announced.
The state has since moved to revoke Plunkett’s health officer license over failures at the animal shelter and his practice of issuing licenses to township food establishments without conducted required annual sanitation inspections.
Three-hundred-thirtytwo eateries, or roughly two-thirds of the food establishments in the township, went uninspected in 2018, records show.
Trentonian staff reported Sulaiman AbdurRahman contributed to this report