Council meeting turns icy over rink purchase
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Show her the numbers.

Township Councilwoman Kathy Russell wants more information about projected operating costs, revenues and market shares for the possible purchase of the Ocean Ice Palace.

"I'm not against a community center at all," Russell said. "I'm not certain this is the site. I'm carefully reviewing it. I'm looking at it as a business proposal. There's information I still want."

Her questions annoyed some of the Republican members of the council, who hammered Russell for much of the Sept. 7 council meeting.

Councilwoman Ruthann Scaturro asked Russell why she had voted for the purchase of the Foodtown site back in 2003 without having similar information.

Scaturro said during the council comments portion of the meeting that she was "sometimes disappointed."

"It just appears that Councilwoman Russell cannot ever answer a direct question," she said.

"I'm not running, Councilwoman Scaturro, you are," Russell replied.

"What does that have to do with it?" Scaturro replied. "Inappropriate."

The township is still in negotiations with Joan Dwulet, the owner of the Ice Palace property.

Council President Stephen C. Acropolis announced in July that the township planned to buy the 45-year-old Brick landmark and the 13.34-acre site on Chambers Bridge Road for $5.45 million. The property also includes an outdoor pool and a building used as a dormitory for visiting hockey teams.

But the negotiations have slowed down because negative publicity about the purchase has made the owner wary, Township Attorney Jean Cipriani has said.

"I got one question," Mayor Daniel J. Kelly said to Acropolis at the meeting. "Why did you hold a press conference before you finished the deal? Steve, you brought this on yourself."

"No, mayor," Acropolis replied. "You are new to government and will help you all you want."

Acropolis held a press conference in the ice rink's parking lot in late July to announce the purchase.

That was necessary because Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras - "your business administrator" - told him that in order to get a down payment waiver from the state Local Finance Board, a bond ordinance for the purchase had to be introduced, Acropolis said.

"We had a verbal agreement," he said. "I want people out there to know what I know. We had to announce the verbal agreement."

"I'm not sure you're right there," Kelly said.

Russell asked why the down payment had not been included in the 2007 budget.

"We didn't know at the time we were buying it," Acropolis said.

Kelly also asked for the minutes of a closed session meeting in January where the Ice Palace purchase was discussed. Both he and Acropolis were at the meeting.

"I would like to release them," Acropolis said. "I want to get them out there."

Cipriani said she would examine the minutes from the January closed session meeting to see if they could be released. But she cautioned against discussing them at the meeting, since they were still confidential.

"I want to make this clear," Cipriani said. "There is no contract, only contract negotiations. There is no contract. We haven't bought it."

In a related matter, Acropolis announced that "for sale" signs were going up at the townshipowned Foodtown site on Route 70 and the Civic Center strip mall on Chambers Bridge Road.

The Civic Center site currently houses the township recreation department, which would be moved across the street to offices inside the ice rink if the purchase goes through.

The 2.49-acre Civic Center site was appraised at between $2.5 million and $3.2 million, said Pezarras.

Township officials plan to put the money from the eventual sale of the Civic Center toward the Ocean Ice Palace purchase.

Acropolis asked Kelly where the numbers came from in a Democratic campaign ad titled "Steve Acropolis' Ice Follies" that appeared in a local newspaper.

The ad claimed estimated costs of $15 million to purchase and develop the property.

"I just want to know where that $15 million came from," Acropolis said.

"It came from a number of pages, mostly the newspapers," Kelly replied.

"Can you get me a copy of that article?" Acropolis said. "I want to make sure we square that away."

Acropolis, a Republican, and Kelly, a Democrat, are vying for the two-year, unexpired term of former Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli. Scarpelli resigned last December and pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer.

The GOP-dominated Township Council picked Kelly to serve as mayor until the November election.