Conflict and Technical Problems at Township Committee Meeting

Springfield's most recent Township committee was marked by a heated disagreement over administrative actions and disrupted by an unfortunately timed technical glitch.  

As he has for the last several meetings, Mayor Ziad Shehady attended the meeting remotely from Fort Benning, Georgia via Skype. At their July 19 meeting, the Township Committee appointed Richard Rosell as the Township's first Public Safety Director.

Richard Rosell's appointment as of July 19 became a point of dispute between Fraenkel and Cancro.  Cancro, after Fraenkel maintained that the appointment was meant to be provisionary. Cancro's said he was tasked with ascertaining that various points were satisfied. And that, if those criterion were met, he had the authority to tender an offer to Rosell. (Although Rosell's start date was July 19, he has not been 'on the clock' for that entire time, taking a unpaid week off because of a prior commitment.)

Fraenkel said he believes Cancro was meeting with Rosell to see if Rosell met the criteria laid out for the job. Fraenkel contended that Cancro was only authorized to offer Rosell the job on a provisional basis, not permanently. Upon finding out that Rosell was offered the job permanently, Fraenkel said he believed Cancro favored Shehady, despite how under township law, all of the committee members have equal importance.

The discussion between Fraenkel and Cancro became heated. Fraenkel said proper communication between the Committee and the Administrator had not been maintained in this case. Shehady joined the fray remotely and the three men were engaged in the heated discussion when the electronic connection dropped and Fraenkel was engaging a blank screen. 

Shehady rejoined the conversation via speaker phone routed through a ceiling loudspeaker. Unfortunately, his end of the discussion was unintelligible and a recess was called.  After about five minutes, the computer connection was re-established and the meeting continued smoothly for another twenty minutes or so when the computer connection was lost for good.