TOMS RIVER – A rally before a Township Council meeting has almost become standard as a small group of people are opposing a policy, action or ordinance proposed by Mayor Daniel Rodrick and his administration.
The most recent rally was in opposition to Rodrick closing the township animal shelter on June 6. Susan Alf Kearney of New Jersey Animal Save Movement organized this rally at Town Hall. She said “you should be enraged that all county shelters are full – as expected – since the mayor made the wrong decision to shut down our local shelter.”
Whether the county shelters in Jackson and Stafford are full was not able to be confirmed by press time.
Resident Dana Tormollan spoke at the rally, saying, “through an OPRA request we have learned that our police have taken in 109 animals in 20 days.”
OPRA stands for Open Public Records Act. It’s a way for residents to get information from their government.
Since taking office in January, Rodrick has faced criticism for cutting township police positions; eliminating certificate of occupancy requirements for reselling houses; and reduced the CO requirement for rentals; and more recently the closing of the shelter. Efforts of opposition have included petitions concerning these issues.
“We’ve gotten over 7,000 signatures in a matter of seven months – one was done in two weeks. We had more than 4,000 signatures for the shelter. That is amazing. Please keep up your hard work. The outcry for a recall is out there. We have been fooled again by a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Tormollan added.
Craig Saltarelli was among the 35 attendees at the rally. He said “I’ve been fighting for animal shelters for 15-20 years now.” He said he was the vice president of a group that had worked to support animal shelters in Paterson, Newark and Camden and “we never had the kind of problems we are having here in Toms River. We’ve been in towns where the poverty rate is 40%. We have a poverty rate in this town that isn’t even 6% so why we can’t accomplish stuff here is crazy.”
He urged those present to speak during the public comment period of the council meeting. “Get up there and let them know who you are. We need to let them know that everybody has a voice. This is a great shelter. Why they want to put it down the toilet blows my mind.”
Many of those at the rally came to speak at the council meeting. Mayor Rodrick repeatedly told them that the shelter was only temporarily closed and that after renovations were performed, it would be reopened under Ocean County control.
The council had passed a motion 4-3 vote to lease the shelter to Ocean County back in April. At the most recent meeting, Township Clerk Mike Cruoglio verified a petition signed by more than 3,079 residents to force the Council to repeal this move.
Councilman Tom Nivison once again asked Rodrick, who he said had lied to him about never wanting to close the shelter, to come together and discuss options available to the governing body to retain township operation of the facility.
Ocean County Health Department officials said they would not sign the lease if the recall succeeded. Mayor Rodrick previously stated his administration did not provide any funding for the shelter in this year’s municipal budget.
Now the measure could go back to the council who would then either repeal it or put it on the ballot for voters in November.
For months, the animal shelter has been a controversial topic. In January, staff were forbidden from accepting new animals. Additionally, the hours of operation were expanded and the adoption fees were dropped. Rodrick said at the time that the shelter would not be closing, and that the reason for these changes was to speed up the adoption of animals that were currently in the facility. The facility later resumed taking animals back.
The Township Council and the Ocean County Health Department had agreed to start negotiations but on June 6, the shelter was again closed to any new animals and all employees except one were put on administrative leave.
The remaining worker is doing animal control for the township which includes responding to calls for stray dogs and other matters.
The public was never notified of the decisions to stop accepting animals during this saga. Shelter advocates feared that people would still leave animals in cages or boxes outside the building, subjecting the animals to harm.
In fact, this did happen at least once as a few cats were left outside for an unknown amount of time.
Rodrick described the shelter as being poorly run while shelter supporters have repeatedly said that his claims were unsubstantiated and that things have changed with recent new management. The mayor said the building doesn’t meet the Board of Health’s standards and must be shut down temporarily for construction upgrades, explaining the glass cages are poorly ventilated and the dogs only received a half hour to be out of their cage for exercise as it lacks dog runs.
The mayor made reference to the $1 million that was left in a will of a resident to the shelter and which now will be returned to that resident’s estate.
“The county is also going to bring in a vet, which we do not have. So, we will be upgrading the facility for that as well,” the mayor previously told The Toms River Times.
Rodrick commended the one speaker at the meeting, Irene Watson, who backed up his position. She said she didn’t sign the petition as its verbiage was critical of Ocean County Shelters.
The vast majority of speakers who came before the microphone that evening to speak about the animal shelter. The three council members – Nivison, James Quinlisk and David Ciccozzi – also said the shelter should reopen, remain under township control, and that the staff should be rehired. They also said there were options to be explored to support and improve services for the betterment of the animals serviced there.
