By DON STINE
Asbury Park city employees almost didn’t get paid after the City Council at last week’s meeting initially did not approve a resolution to pay the city’s monthly payroll and claims bill.
When the issue of paying the city’s bills and claims came up, Deputy Mayor Sue Henderson and Councilwoman Amy Quinn voted to approve them. However, Councilman John Moor voted no and Mayor Myra Campbell abstained which caused the measure to fail. A majority vote is needed to pass.
Councilman John Loffredo was absent.
“The ramifications were that nobody was going to get paid,” Moor said earlier this week.
Campbell abstained on the vote because she has previously stated that she will not vote on matters when she does not get information on that issue in a timely fashion.
Moor said he voted no because he objects to the city’s hiring practices.
“I ran for office on a campaign of hiring more Asbury Park residents for city jobs and nothing has been done to do this. Our hiring record for city residents is terrible,” he said.
Moor said he has voted against the city’s payroll on the past four monthly resolutions and will continue to do so until he sees the city’s hiring practices change.
“I will vote yes when I see the administration start to hire qualified Asbury Park people for jobs,” he said.
In the end, the resolution was split into two separate motions: one to approve the bills (and payroll) and one for claims.
Campbell then voted yes on the payroll and Moor voted yes on the claims but not on the payroll. This gave the resolutions enough votes to pass.
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