Every January, a calendar of Kearny Town Council meetings gets published. And, as has been tradition for decades, in July and August, the council meets one time only in those months, as opposed to the two times they meet in the other 10 months of the year.
And it is that simple reality that absolutely blows the mind that last week, five of the sitting members of the council crapped out of attending and thus, making a quorum impossible.
First, one of the five had a valid reason for not attending — Councilman Dennis Solano. He says he was exposed to an illness, and he made a responsible decision not to expose anyone else. We applaud him for that.
Councilman Rich Konopka informed Mayor Carol Jean Doyle some days earlier he couldn’t make it, which, of course, is better than telling her the day of the meeting.
Councilmen Stathis Theodoropoulos and Renato daSilva texted Doyle the day of the meeting to say they couldn’t make the meeting. That’s right, the day of the meeting, these two suddenly had commitments that were entirely more important than going to the only meeting of August. Think about that for a second.
And then there’s Council President Eileen Eckel, who missed the meeting because she was “on vacation.” The retired Eckel, who likely was aware of the August meeting date, knowing there is but one meeting the entire month, scheduled a vacation knowing it would cause her to be absent from the meeting.
She’s made some absurd missteps lately, but this one takes the proverbial cake. She can claim all she wants the vacation was planned well in advance, but so, too, is the council meeting schedule — and to take a vacation at the same time isn’t just bad, it’s downright irresponsible and a dereliction of her duties as an elected official.
What’s clear is this was a power play, one designed to embarrass Doyle. But like every other instance of their ploys, they’ve all backfired. Remember when they tried to remove Doyle last year from the county committee? Or their diatribe of a letter two weeks ago? The public backlash has been universal, and yet they still pull these inane stunts. But remember, our memories don’t falter at times like these. Their re-elections may be a year or two away. But when that time comes, we’ll be sure to remind everyone of their epic stunt fails.
And you shouldn’t forget it either. Only Solano gets a pass here. The other four? It’s not even close.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.