Politics & Government

Citing Liability, Musing Recuses Himself from Hightstown Council Meeting

The Borough Democrat says the town needs to better protect its officials.

Hightstown Borough Council Democrat Dimitri Musing cited a lack of mandated protection for elected and appointed officials and the council’s unwillingness to immediately address the issue before excusing himself from the dais at the start of Monday’s meeting.

“It was always my understanding that I would be protected from personal liability and exposure should any litigation occur as a result of the good faith performance of my duties on behalf of the borough,” he said. But, he explained, he inquired and discovered the borough allows for the defense of individual officials with borough funds, but any protection beyond the borough’s insurance must be approved with a majority vote from council members.

“I am not satisfied that this provides sufficient assurances for me to risk my own well-being, and that of my family, against what may be frivolous lawsuits,” he said, noting that even those types of suits can incur large legal expenses. He then called for “blanket legislation” that would call for the automatic legal protection of council members and other members of borough boards and committees acting in good faith.

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“I ask my fellow governing body embers to act immediately to resolve this issue and to enact such legislation,” Musing said. “If this council does not see fit to do so, then I feel that I have no other alternative than to excuse myself from this meeting right now, and I will consider all of the options that are available to me relating to my continued participation as a council member.”

Borough attorney Fred Raffetto said Musing’s understanding of the borough code is accurate, but also said absolute indemnity would not be possible.

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“You could put that blanket ordinance into place, but you nevertheless cannot provide defense and indemnification for certain instances, including criminal conduct and any actions that arise out of actual malice or actual fraud or intentional wrongdoing,” he said.

A motion to amend the agenda to include the indemnification resolution failed, with only Musing and Council President Isabel McGinty, a fellow Democrat, voting in favor of adding it. Musing then left the dais and sat in the audience for the rest of the four-hour meeting, the second consecutive public session to reach that length.

At the end of the meeting, Republican Councilwoman Skye Gilmartin, who is running for reelection, said she might have supported the resolution if she had had more notice. The measure was first discussed in an executive session just prior to the public portion of the meeting. “I’m not against it, but I want to be deliberate,” she said.

Council President McGinty said the resolution was only ready that night. When it comes to legal protection, she continued, it’s important for the council to ensure those who serve it are “not subject to the vagaries of what other council members thought” of their actions.

“I think the fact that we’ve got a councilmember who recused himself from all of tonight’s proceedings is something significant,” she said.

“I don’t take this lightly.”


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