Illegal Zoning Board Appointments?



At the December 19, 2017 Commission meeting the city commission appointed three new members to the Zoning Board. On January 2, 2018 two of the members were sworn in. That evening when the new city commissioners took office, they rescinded the resolution appointing the three members and appointed three members of their choice.

There is a very clear process to remove board members in the city’s municipal code.
According to 30-87:
Removal for cause.

            The City Commission may remove for cause a member of the Board of  Adjustment upon written notice to the member sent to his or her last known address at least 20 days prior to the holding of a hearing, at which time causes for the removal shall be heard and the member to be removed shall be     allowed to speak on his or her own behalf. A hearing shall be in private          unless the member requests that the hearing be held in public. Cause for    removal shall include misconduct in office, unexcused absences from a majority of the meetings held during a consecutive twelve-month period or the conviction of a crime.


The new commissioners ignored the ordinance. There was no notice, no hearing, and no cause for removal.

The Santiago Team ignored another ordinance when it appointed a school board member to the zoning board. Holding both positions is prohibited by municipal ordinance 30-85A, which states:

            The Board of Commissioners shall appoint seven regular members to the Board of Adjustment who are citizens of the City and who do not hold any elective office or position with the City.

The Board of Education is an elective office.

The actions of Santiago, Parent, Udalovas, Pepitone, and Cooper are in direct violation of the city’s municipal code.

It is critical that the zoning board is impartial and independent. If the mayor and commissioners can arbitrarily rescind appointments with no cause because they do not like the present members or their decisions, then the Board ceases to be independent. Rescinding appointments without cause makes the board subject to political favoritism by the appointing authority thereby corrupting the process. It appears the new commissioners wanted to send a message to the zoning board and the public in general. That message is: “We call the shots and don’t forget it.”

In a local newspaper article regarding the zoning board action, the new, municipal attorney from Atlantic County, when asked about the legality of the action said he needed time to research the issue. The board should have waited for the attorney’s opinion, however Santiago and his team forged ahead without regard to the legality of the action.  An elected official is not above the law. An elected official takes an oath to be bound by and uphold the law. An elected official violates that oath when he or she knowingly breaks the law.

To challenge the lawlessness of Santiago, Parent, Udalovas, Pepitone and Cooper, the ousted members of the zoning board would have to hire an attorney and personally pay to go to court while the Mayor and the commissioners can use the City attorney at taxpayers’ expense to defend its action. Fair or not, that is the system.

It looks like the good old boys club has returned to the city of Millville, either play along or you will be excluded.



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