The Lower Milford Township Supervisors met July 16 via Zoom and began with a motion by Supervisor John Quigley to terminate bookkeeper Stacy Smith due to the threats she allegedly made toward the former township manager Zack Cooperman.

A second was made by Supervisor Ellen Koplin for discussion.

Solicitor Mark Cappuccio said at no point did Cooperman make it apparent there were racial or discriminatory threats toward him. However, Quigley countered Cooperman was terminated at the next meeting, so he was not able to fully explain the situation.

Cappuccio said there was no mention of racial discrimination in the report submitted to the township or solicitor’s office. There was not much detail given during the meeting as Cappuccio repeated this was a township personnel issue.

Quigley attempted to present email evidence, but again, Cappuccio said personnel matters could not be discussed in the public forum.

Following this, a statement on the matter was read by Supervisor Chair Donna Wright. The letter, in sum, covered a majority of the allegations proposed by Quigley.

The letter stated the township was not made aware of nor saw any evidence that race or racial threats were made toward Cooperman’s family. The township does not stand for racism and felt they were unfairly represented as they were unaware of any racial issues in the altercation. Wright said the township already appropriately handled punishment for Smith.

Also in the statement, Wright explained Quigley was being “investigated” because the township was looking into potential wiretapping or recording devices planted in the township building. The investigation was to see if Quigley had any information about this and the investigation was not against him.

Quigley claimed he spoke with the investigating attorney, Joseph C. Rudolph, of the law firm Clark Hill and Rudolph told him that both Koplin and Wright did not want Quigley to have knowledge of the investigation as they feared he would be an obstruction. He alleged they were breaking the Sunshine Law directly by doing this.

Quigley also said the two women wrote untrue statements about the former township manager. He claimed they told the investigating firm Cooperman entered the township building without permission, which is apparently untrue as Quigley said he gave Cooperman permission to enter.

Since this was a personnel matter in the township the motion was denied.

After the treasurer’s report was approved, Quigley again addressed the legal action taken by Koplin and Wright against the former township manager. Quigley said he felt Koplin and Wright were abusing the township’s funds. He brought up the $11,000 being paid to the law firm Clark Hill for the investigation against Cooperman and himself. Wright said there was no money going to the firm in the July bills.

In new business, among a few zoning approvals, the status of the 2020 Fall Festival was on the agenda. A meeting will be held at the end of July. However, Koplin said the deciding committee’s feeling is to cancel the Fall Festival as COVID-19 has been unpredictable and any health risks should not be introduced to the residents. The supervisors approved the motion to cancel the festival.

Nearing the end of the items, a motion was put forward to restrict access to the township building, or certain areas of the building, at specific times of the day. There were no real restrictions prior and after discussing with various surrounding township officials, Wright decided to put restrictions forward.

Quigley, again, felt this was an attack against him for doing his job as a supervisor. He believes the workers aren’t doing as much as proposed and now that he is trying to observe, he is being locked out. There were many more allegations thrown about, as Koplin defended the restrictions against Quigley. The restrictions were then approved by Koplin and denied by Quigley.

A resident asked for the status of the open position for township manager. Supervisors said no decision has been made and a combination of the zoning officer, public works director and bookkeeper are doing the job.

On a lighter note, the Lower Milford Fire Company was represented in public comment. They are holding a hoagie sale and asked for township residents to reach out and help the drive.

The next regular supervisors meeting will be held at the Lower Milford Township Building 6:30 p.m. Aug. 20. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will be accessible via a Zoom link on the Lower Milford website, lowermilford.org.