West Deptford Township committee passed an ordinance this week that will prevent relatives of elected officials from being hired in the township.
WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- Township committee adopted an ordinance this week that is intended to curb nepotism hires in the municipality.
Republican committeeman Jeff Hansen initially proposed an anti-nepotism measure in January after Janice Diacco, the sister-in-law of Democratic Committeeman James Mahaffey, was appointed as the township's deputy clerk.
Her appointment -- which was approved by a 3-2 party-line vote with Hansen and his fellow GOP committeeman Gerald Maher dissenting -- raised eyebrows in the township and while she eventually resigned, it forced the governing body to take a look at its hiring policies.
At that time, the measure was not added to the township's agenda, as Mayor Denice DiCarlo said it needed to be vetted by West Deptford's solicitor before going in front of the governing body.
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Now, more than 10 months later, a similar ordinance has been introduced and unanimously adopted by the committee.
The two measures are similar, with an identical spirit but a few minor changes.
Both prohibited a relative of any elected official from being hired in any position within the township, however the newly approved ordinance includes some exclusions from the rule. These include clauses stating that existing employees will not be affected, that volunteer positions in the fire departments are not included and that it would not affect anyone who was appointed before the policy was put into affect.
It states that any relative of an elected official, the township administrator or department head -- which extends past immediate family members to include stepparents and step siblings, in-laws, first cousins and cohabitants -- may not be considered for employment in West Deptford. This applies to full-time, part-time and seasonal employment.
It also prevents elected officials from participating in the promotion process or any other personnel mater of an existing employee who is a relative.
"Gerry Maher and I have pushed for this for the last 10 months," said Hansen. "This has been a big issue in this town for many, many years. If you go back and look at how many committee members' relatives work for this town it's ridiculous."
The GOP committeeman went on to say that while he is pleased that an anti-nepotism ordinance has finally passed, he doesn't understand why it took so long to do so.
"We've been pushing it, but suspiciously right before the election it gets voted on," he added. "...I think that it was a monumental thing that was done, but it's the same ordinance I introduced."
According to DiCarlo, however, Hansen's ordinance was not ready to be put in front of the committee.
"Initially it couldn't pass muster, so we gave it to our attorney to look at," DiCarlo said. "It finally came to the point where he was comfortable putting it forward. This is a safety net that regardless of who's in control, all hires are above board."
Rebecca Forand may be reached at rforand@southjerseymedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @RebeccaForand. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
