Questions about council's health coverage arise

STANHOPE - Like many municipalities around the country, Stanhope finds employee health insurance costs one of the largest and least controllable expenses in it operating budget. At a recent council meeting, Stanhope resident Elizabeth Indano questioned why two council members have health insurance from the borough at a cost of $35,000 to the taxpayers. Indano’s query led to a discussion about whether the borough could maintain this practice or whether this coverage should be withdrawn. The two members of the borough council are being covered by a state statute, according to Borough Administrator Terri Massood, who was contacted following the meeting. Massood said all local governments are eligible to participate in the state plan which offers health insurance to full-time employees and elected officials. She said that municipalities are mandated to offer this insurance to elected officials and to all full-time employees. She emphasized that it is mandatory and not discretionary to offer the coverage to any elected official, and that the municipality has no authority to exclude any elected official who wishes to participate. According to Mayor Diana Kuncken, the question of offering taxpayer-funded health insurance to elected officials also has been raised in surrounding towns. Borough Attorney Richard Stein said he researched the question of whether offering the coverage is optional and confirmed the fact that it is not discretionary. “The plan allows for elected officials to take advantage of the coverage. My situation is that it’s necessary for me to do this. It’s 100 percent legal, and if I didn’t need it, it would not have been an issue,” said Councilman Edward Schwartz, who along with Councilman Raymond Wooten, is receiving health coverage through the state-mandated plan. Wootten declined to comment on the issues, except to say, “it’s probably political.” According to Wootten, Councilman Brian Murphy, who is a Democrat, has brought up the matter in previous discussions. Wootten is a Republican. Wootten went on to say that some of the information being circulated is private. He said copies of confidential personal records had been made public and said that an investigation is now underway by New Jersey State Police, the Attorney General, and Sussex County Prosecutor. He declined to specify the type of personal records were allegedly made public illegally. “This information was circulated; copies were made. It’s the only way she (Indano) could have found out about it. Somebody gave her that information,” said Wootten referring to the resident who posed the question to the council. He also expressed concern that his “identity could be stolen” by the release of his personal records. Massood, Stanhope’s administrator, acknowledged that her office is looking at the probability that some of the councilman’s private information may have inadvertently been released to the public. “What is being investigated is the fact that there is personal data out there which could only have been secured from a document requested through the Open Public Records Act,” she said during a phone interview early this week. According to Massood, borough authorities are attempting to round up any copies of the documents containing the private information. “The document has been returned, but not the copies that have been circulated,” she said, and issued a call to residents to return any copies to the borough clerk. “We are taking this very seriously in the best interests of all our employees,” said Massood.