Councilman Accused of 'Railroading' Housing Authority Meeting

The following is a statement from Debra Morrissette and Sigsby Cheatham the Hoboken Housing Authority Resident Advisory Board/Tenant Association:

At the Jan. 9 Hoboken Housing Authority meeting, Councilman David Mello attempted to remove the first black chairman of the Hoboken Housing Authority, inciting a riot with the residents of the Housing Authority. 

Councilman Mello [who was appointed to the Housing Authority in 2012] attended the meeting with a pocket resolution to change the bylaws of the commissioners, which stated that if during the term of the chair and vice chair of the HHA board of commissioners there occurs a change in the composition of the membership of the board for any reason, then a meeting of the full board must be held within 60 days of the change. At this meeting, by motion appropriately made and seconded and by a vote of the majority of its full membership, the board may remove and replace the board chair and/or vice-chair. In the event such a change in leadership is made, the new officers shall assume office immediately after the vote and shall serve until the expiration of the original one-year term, until they are replaced pursuant to this rule or until they resign. Any newly elected officers whose position was gained by set vote shall be immediately empowered to make any changes to the composition of any sub-committees established by the board that they deem appropriate.

Councilman Mello not only attempted to bully Chairman Davis but also railroaded the meeting. He attempted to obstruct Chairman Davis’ ability to run the meeting as is his duty.

As residents attending and observing what is going on with the political bullying that the city of Hoboken is facing, we must ask:

Did Councilman Mello discuss the resolution at an earlier time with the majority commissioners? The certainty and assurance he had that the resolution would pass by the majority only leaves one to believe that the resolution may have been discussed earlier, whether by telephone conference, in person or electronically. If such a thing did occur then this would constitute a violation of the Sunshine Law and should be addressed immediately.  

This is a mirror situation of what occurred at the City Council meeting on Tuesday evening when the minority council members were not provided with a list of potential candidates to serve on a variety of city boards until two minutes prior to voting. When questioned, no one could answer how or when the names were selected and were told they could either vote yes or no as they had a full board to conduct the vote.

As researched by a resident of the HHA, not one member appointed to the city boards is a minority, which serves contrary to the mayor’s inaugural speech of all elected officials working together for ONE Hoboken and being transparent with the processes used in the City’s government.