Planning Board roster set, at least for now Board members play musical chairs after appointments spat BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Dominick Rappoccio's stint on the Brick Township Planning Board was brief. Very brief. Rappoccio was sworn in to the Class IV seat on Jan. 3, after then-acting Mayor and Township Clerk Virginia Lampman appointed him to the position on Jan. 2. His swearing-in came several hours before a tense board meeting that ended abruptly because of challenges to appointments Lampman made during the three weeks she served as mayor. When Rappoccio came to the Jan. 10 meeting, board Attorney Charles Tivenan and then-board Chairman, now Mayor Daniel P. Kelly talked to him outside the meeting room and told him that Lampman had no authority to appoint him. But Rappoccio didn't go quietly. "I'm getting a lesson in politics," Rappoccio said at the Jan. 17 meeting. "I know I could help this town. I have to see how it plays out. I'm not going to sit quietly by. I think my rights have been violated." Rappoccio came to the Jan. 17 board reorganization meeting, which was rescheduled from Jan. 3, prepared to take a seat. But longtime board member Kevin Aiello was already sitting in it. "I'm here to sit on the board," Rappoccio said. "I would hope the board would do the right thing and allow me to sit." Former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli reappointed Aiello to a three-year term in December 2005. The reappointment letter had no reference to reappointing Aiello to another term on the township Environmental Commission. Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro, who is also a board member, has said that particular Planning Board seat requires someone to serve simultaneously on the township Environmental Commission. Since there was no written notice reappointing Aiello to the Environmental Commission, that left the Planning Board seat open, Scaturro said. But Tivenan said that was merely a clerical error. "My legal opinion, as Planning Board attorney, is that Kevin Aiello's term never expired," he said after the meeting. "It was a clerical error." Aiello continued to serve and still does serve on the township Environmental Commission, as well as on the Ocean County Environmental Commission, he said. "Did Mayor Scarpelli appoint someone else to the Environmental Commission in lieu of Kevin Aiello?" Tivenan said. "The answer is no. Kevin Aiello attended meetings. He went to seminars. He is listed on the environmental commission roster." Rappoccio told the board that Lampman asked him if he wanted the seat before she made the appointment. "She was mayor, she had full authority to appoint me," he said. "I have no gripes against anybody. I try to do good for this town. I have a whole lot of knowledge and I know a lot about Brick. He asked board Chairman Fred Underwood if the board would let him take his seat. Planning Board members have no authority to decide who sits on the board, Underwood told Rappoccio. "Thank you for taking the time to come here," he said. "We can't give you any recourse at this time. Take it up with the proper authorities." Rappoccio said that since Lampman was acting mayor when she made the appointment, it should be upheld But Tivenan disagrees. "With all due respect to Mr. Rappoccio, he's not an attorney," Tivenan said after the meeting. "He might want to get the advice of an attorney as to how he comes to the position." Board members unanimously selected Underwood to serve as board chairman in 2008. Underwood replaces now-Mayor Daniel J. Kelly. Kelly said recently the demands of his new office would preclude him from sitting on the board. "Ten years ago I sat in this seat," Underwood said. "It's been a while, so excuse me if I make a few mistakes." Aiello was unanimously selected as board vice chairman. Jack Hahn, one of Lampman's appointments, will remain on the board. But Kelly replaced Joseph Perna, who was sworn in early this month as Lampman's mayoral designee, with longtime board member Sal Petoia. Kelly was within his legal rights to reappoint Petoia, a retired civil engineer, Tivenan said. "The mayor's designee serves at the pleasure of the mayor," he said. The board unanimously reappointed Tivenan as board attorney and Birdsall Engineering as board engineer. Scarpelli, who resigned on Dec. 8, pleaded guilty in federal court on Jan. 8 for accepting bribes from an unnamed developer. "Everyone is upset about what happened with Mayor Scarpelli," Tivenan said after the meeting. I don't think anyone should defend what Joe Scarpelli did. I don't think you throw out the entire government of Brick Township because Joe Scarpelli strayed."