Mayor William Pikolycky

WOODBINE — Several Borough Council members are being blamed for silence by Mayor William Pikolycky and Councilman Eduardo Ortiz.

That happened after Ortiz made a motion to pass a school budget resolution after voters defeated the proposed school budget, 97-44, and council did not second the motion, according to a story in the Press of Atlantic City.

According to Council President David Rodriquez and other council members, they were never given an opportunity to tell their side of the story in that article, and some of the facts given by Ortiz and Pikolycky were inaccurate.

According to the story, “Council President David Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.” The story made no reference to any other attempts to contact any other council member.

Rodriguez was asked if given the opportunity to tell his side of the story what he would say?

“First, we did not vote because we were never provided with the budget resolution,” said Rodriguez. “The mayor and Ortiz never told (the reporter) that the clerk did not give us a resolution,” said Rodriguez.

According to Rodriguez, the mayor’s assistant called him on a Friday to notify him of a meeting on a Monday with the school board and county executive superintendent to prepare a revised budget.

Rodriguez said he was unable to make the meeting because it was impossible to clear his schedule on short notice. Rodriguez is executive president of the Puerto Rican Action Committee.

Ryan was also unable to attend due to his work schedule as the director of Public Works for Dennis Township.

According to both council members, the mayor never advised them of the outcome of the meeting nor provided them with any budget proposals for their review.

Rodriguez said he would have given heavy consideration to what the borough auditor from Ford, Scott and Associates recommended, however they were never invited to the meeting and never provided a copy of the budget.

According to Mike Garcia of Ford, Scott and Associates, he was notified that a meeting would take place but never told a date or time nor was he requested to be present.

Pikolycky was asked why the auditor was not included in the budget revision process. In his emailed response he stated, “It was reviewed by all competent parties, as it has always been done in the past when there was a defeated school budget needing review, which unfortunately has become an all too frequent occurrence. This situation did not necessarily involve any auditors, school, county, or borough, or lawyers or other professional mediators nor is it required to.

“The borough auditor was contacted and was informed as to our procedure that we are following and confirmed that this was the best route. An auditor audits the borough records and budget, but is not involved in the day-to-day financial matters in the way the chief financial officer is.”

“It’s common for the auditor to assist, in fact I am just finishing up on a school budget revision in another municipality,” Garcia said. He also found it “quite unusual” the council members were asked to vote on a resolution but had no copy before them.

He said he was given a copy of the budget on May 20. School Business Administrator Charles Muller and Rodriguez asked to review it.

The Mayor was also asked why council was not provided with a copy of a written resolution.

Pikolycky said in his response, “Many times at a council meeting, things are presented verbally and later reduced to written documents such as resolutions.”

According to Rodriguez, in his nearly six years of service on council, he has never been asked to act theoretically nor would he do so.

“At no time have we ever passed a resolution without reviewing exactly what the resolution contained,” said Rodriguez.

Council met on May 21 to go over the resolution. All council members were given the revised budget — in writing — and Garcia went over each line item.

Council passed that resolution unanimously. Now that the budget has been agreed upon it will “stream line” certification by the state, according to Garcia.