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Guest Column
Barry D.
Denkensohn
Document is part of council’s case

In last week’s News Tran-script, Mark Rosman’s column "Marlboro Officials Keep Cost of Quitting FRHSD Hush Hush" accused Marlboro’s governing body of withholding a document from public scrutiny. The information in question is a preliminary, draft report that the Township Council asked its attorney to obtain from a consulting expert to determine the cost if Marlboro Township sought to dissolve or withdraw from the Freehold Regional High School District.

Mr. Rosman stated that the governing body wanted to "bury this report and pretend it never existed." This allegation is not only false, but it is also a clear misrepresentation of the facts. The preliminary report, in draft form, is a deliberative work product directly linked to litigation, and not subject to release under the Open Public Records Act. The reason it is not subject to the act is because the township and its attorneys need the ability to develop litigation strategy in a confidential manner.

That aside, it is important to understand why this consultant was hired in the first place. During 2002, the Marlboro Advisory Committee on Educa-tion (ACE) examined many issues that were raised in a public meeting attended by over 200 residents of Marlboro. The list of concerns included involuntary redistricting, inequality in high school taxation, unfairly weighted voting for the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education, costly expansions (funded by a $69 million referendum) that did not meet capacity needs and the burgeoning size of the regional itself.

The governing body, through the ACE Committee, decided to examine all of these issues of concern to our residents and to the residents of other sending towns in the district.

To determine whether withdrawal/dissolution was a practical option, it was incumbent on the council to measure feasibility. That is the reason why we asked our attorney to hire a consultant to research this issue. In the meeting with our consultant, Mr. Yaniro, his preliminary opinions regarding the costs of withdrawal/dissolution, did not include certain financial components necessary for a formal assessment, yet did contain opinions impacting on current and/or future legal strategies and actions of the governing body.

While Marlboro recently lost its case against the FRHSD with regard to redistricting, that case is not technically over, as the period for appeal has not run its course, and the governing body has not made a final decision in this matter. In addition, Marlboro is still in litigation with the FRHSD over voter apportionment.

Therefore, Mr. Rosman, it is not a "lame" excuse by our attorneys, but a reality. Marlboro has held numerous informational sessions with the public regarding these issues and has been forthright with our residents.

The governing body is not hiding anything. To criticize the governing body because we will not provide the News Transcript with a copy of this "draft" report is an unwarranted attack that lacks sound basis. When our attorney is asked to hire a consultant for the township to assist with the formulation of legal strategy, the consultant’s information is the "work product" of our attorney. The Open Public Records Act doesn’t contemplate the disclosure of this material.

However, if Mr. Rosman be-lieves Marlboro is wrongfully withholding the consultant’s report from him, he certainly is entitled to pursue this matter through appropriate channels rather than castigate the governing body for protecting its residents by appropriately withholding work product litigation materials.

Barry D. Denkensohn is a Marlboro Township councilman