Hamilton school board working to move past Bencivengo scandal

HAMILTON — The local school board at the center of the federal corruption case involving Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo is still coming to grips with the scandal’s causes and how to move forward.

At Monday’s Hamilton Township School Board meeting, board members discussed what they called a “forensic audit” that would diagnose where district funds had gone and the system that governs how those dollars are spent.

“We need to wash the slate clean and know what skeletons are in the closet if there are any,” said Board Member Stephanie Pratico, who raised the issue of the audit.

It is one of a number of measures the board has discussed to get a better grip on its past and finances, intensifying as the scandal involving the mayor and the district’s former insurance broker, Vineland-based Allen Associates, develops.

Several board members, including Pratico, have brought forth measures they said would bring the board to account and make it more transparent. Another, offered by member Jeff Hewitson but defeated by a 4-to-3 vote Monday night, would have allowed the board to record its executive sessions.

“You all know what is going on in Hamilton Township and the citizens are angry; the citizens are not stupid,” said board candidate Tony Celantano at Monday night’s meeting.

He and more than a dozen others across several meetings have criticized the board for the scandal, its practices and its communications with the public.

After Monday night’s meeting, Board President Patty Del Giudice said the board’s communication was a “work in progress.”

“[Communication is] a critical thing we can do for the people who elected us,” she said. “We have a new administration now that shares that ideal.”

She was referring to Superintendent James Parla who, since he was hired in the spring, has emphasized the district’s need to address its issues and move forward.

Parla and members of the administration will also make a presentation at the October meeting about how the district will change its purchasing practices to prevent further crises, such as the problem with Allen Associates.

Last week, the board voted to accept the findings of a state Office of Fiscal Accountability report that detailed four areas the district had been deficient in its dealings with the broker and withheld $25,000 in state aid.

The board will also make what Parla called an “informal appeal” on behalf of the district to retain the funds.

After discussion, board members agreed to add the item to the October agenda, after the board’s Audit Committee discussed it.

The board will likely send out a request separate from the quote request for its annual audit, allowing companies to respond to one or both. Superintendent James Parla said that course would give the board the most options to choose from.

Pratico said she wanted to have the board be more accountable to the public, even if it involved spending more taxpayer money to do so.

“This board has spent money where they have wanted to spend money,” Pratico said.

The district has since retained a consulting firm that works on a contractual basis, rather than on the commissions that became controversial with its previous broker.

The Bencivengo scandal resurfaced at last week’s board meeting, when candidate and longtime critic of the board George Fisher presented a number of photos of board member Ron Tola and members of the administration, including Business Administrator Joe Tramontana, with Marliese Ljuba, the former agent for Allen Associates.

“There are supposed to be at-arms-lengths dealings between the vendors and the administration,” said Fisher, the three-time candidate for board. “You can’t have atarms-length dealings when you are socializing with the vendor.”

Tola, for his part, said the photos were taken out of context. He said he had a number of fundraisers for his campaign, and she attended one of them and the victory party.

Ljuba has been identified by sources as the cooperating witness in the federal corruption case against Bencivengo. He allegedly received $12,400 in a bribe from her in order to influence a member of the school board on behalf of her employer.

He has maintained his innocence, stating in a financial disclosure filed after his arrest that the money was a loan from a friend and not a bribe.