Embattled Hamilton CFO vows to return in new year
HAMILTON >> The suspended chief financial officer who accuses Mayor Kelly Yaede’s administration of workplace harassment has invoked a famous line from The Terminator.
“I shall be back, like Arnold Schwarzenegger used to say,” John Barrett said in public comments at Tuesday’s Hamilton Council meeting.
Barrett served as Hamilton’s CFO since 2008, but the Yaede administration placed him on paid suspension and filed tenure charges against him in January on allegations he grossly violated the township’s sick leave policy.
Council President Jeff Martin defeated Yaede in the Nov. 5 general election, and the mayor-elect previously said he’s willing to bring Barrett back when he takes office next year.
Barrett is accused of using 31 paid sick days between March 2016 and December 2018 to perform work for other clients totaling 161 hours, including making in-person site visits in Hawthorne.
“Being falsely accused is a humbling experience,” the embattled CFO said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Barrett, a man of God, publicly announced he will soon become a deacon in the coming months, described himself as a “trusted advisor” and said he’s “been attentive” to the issues in Hamilton Township over the past 12 months during his ongoing suspension.
“This community is better than what’s happened,” he said, “and those bad actors will be held to account.”
Barrett has filed a lawsuit against Yaede and her closest allies alleging retaliation and workplace harassment.
Tuesday’s council meeting was mostly upbeat and featured a Kodak moment of Martin delivering a bouquet of flowers to Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer, a Republican who did not seek re-election this year.
The meeting was Martin’s final gavel session, a mixture of business and commentary all captured on video thanks to the township’s newly installed camera system. Martin must resign from town council before being sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, 2020.
The Democratic mayorelect supports an ordinance that would expand maximum building height for private warehouses from 35 feet to 45 feet and soften minimum parking space requirements for warehouse and self-storage facilities, but the fivemember town council killed the proposed ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting, saying the governing body should address that issue next year in a more comprehensive fashion.
The governing body, however, flexed its bipartisan muscles Tuesday evening when it unanimously passed an ordinance approving the financial agreement between Hamilton Township and Hilco Redevelopment Partners, the private company that wants to transform the former PSEG coal-burning power plant on Duck Island into a massive warehouse and distribution center.
The company, also known as HRP Mercer Urban Renewal LLC, proposes to build an approximately 1.2 millionsquare-foot facility in the Lamberton Road Redevelopment Area.
Under the newly approved financial agreement, HRP will enjoy long-term tax exemptions on its sprawling 113-acre industrial property and the nearby 20 acres of vacant land it owns. Instead, the private company will compensate Hamilton Township by making regular payments in lieu of taxes on property worth nearly $30 million in assessed value.