Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1909-02-25
Communicated.
To the Editor of the Gloucester Co.
Democrat:

To the Editor of the Gloucester Co.
Democrat:
l desire to set the readers of your
paper right in regard to commune
cation that appeared in the Democrat
of February 18th. The author, after
giving you sugar on a stick, says he
| ity of Offices" with pleasure and re-
gret. Because of the fact that l
| have lived so long and never made a
mistake, and to do SO at this time,
ETC." That is not fact, but false
hood. 1t has never been pretended
that | never made a mistake. / have
made lots of mistakes, and expect to
make more. I may have made some
at this time, as every one has done
who has done anything that is worth
doing There are none perfect, no not
one, not even the most perfect man
that ever lived Then he says, since
my appointment to the Board of Health
| have not presided at any of the
meetings of the Council nor performed
any duties of the Mayors office. That
he fully understood that when he ac-
cepted the appointment to the Board
of Health, the Mayors Office was va
Gated Dy MIN.
1t was on the Goth of January, 1908,
when the Mayor waived his right to
appoint, and was himself appointed
member of the Board of Health.
| (Note this). He knew very well
when he was appointed a member of
the Board of Health, the Mayors office
was vacated by him, and that he has
not presided at any of the Council
meetings, nor performed any duties
of the Mayors Office since that day.
On the 3rd of February, 1909, an or
dinance was passed, making appro-
priations for the year 1909, approved
and signed Vernon E. DeGrofft, Mayor,
attest, Wilmer K. Sloan, Borough
Clerk. Fourteen days after the Mayor
declared the Mayors Office vacated by
him, he signed the appropriation or
dinance. Is this ordinance valid, can
it be enforced 1t will be noticed
that this ordinance levies a tax of
$7,605 on the people and taxpayers of
the borough, and among other appro-
priations, is an appropriation of ST.
$50 for incidentals to pay for the Rae
coon canal bed. Then he goes of
with an explosion of vindictiveness,
that is not worth noticing. After he
comes to himself again, he cites bor-
ough ordinance, to establish a Board
of Health in accordance with an act
to establish Boards of Health in this
State, etc., passed in 1887, G. S. 1885,
The members of Boards of Health ap-
pointed under this act, hold their Office
for three years, and he is correct if
we stop here, but let US go a step
further. The act of 1897, known as
the general borough act, P. L. 1897,
P. $50, has sweeping repeater, I copy
the repeating clause: This shall take
effect Immediately, and all acts and
parts of acts, general or special, in
consistent herewith, are hereby re-
pealed, but nothing in this act shall
be construed to shorten or terminate
the term of Office of any officer elect
ed or appointed in any borough prior
to the passage of this act" See Nit
ting VS.. Park Ridge, and cases cited
in SINNERS Borough Laws, p 83.
We are now driven back to Sec. 3 of
the borough act of 1897. The Mayor
shall nominate, and with the advice
and consent of the Council, he shall
appoint the candidate, that he can not
appoint for a longer term than one
year. If the Council had refused to
attempt to appoint the Mayor to the
Board of Health, and compelled him
to do his duty, to nominate and ap-
point, instead of assisting him to
shirk it to crafty his greed for Office,
they would have saved much per-
plexity and the predicament the bor-
ough government is now in. I regret
that 1 have been obliged to put the
Mayor in the awkward position he is
now in, in my defence against his
attack l am also sorry that the bor-
ough government is in the predica
ment that it is now in.
1t is not a question of longevity,
criminal ignorance, or human per-
| fection. 1t is simply question, am
| right or wrong? The Mayor very
properly called attention to an or
dinance of the borough establishing a
Board of Health pursuant to the act
of 1887, and cited the act, and it is
up to me to refute his authority, and
| if have failed, | must be reversed.
| If have succeeded, it will be up to
him to refute mine if he can do it,
and I will accept his opinion as final.
Let the reader be the Judge.
JOHN FORD.
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