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VICARI CALLS COUNTY LABOR NEGOTIATOR'S ACCUSATIONS "A MISUNDERSTANDING"
By Bill McLaughlin
Nearing the end of the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting Wednesday, dozen resolutions for road improvements, a bridge replacement, land purchase, and a county garage were quickly approved.
Then the public had a chance to speak.
Quoting a negotiator involved in contract talks with the county administration, county employee Frank Klem said Freeholder Director Joseph Vicari has cast aspersions on the workers.
"Mr. Paul Alexander said in negotiations with the (Communications Workers of America) that the reason why our wages are so substandard opposed to other counties' is that you (Vicari) consider us unskilled labor."
Taken aback by the accusation, Vicari said he was confused by the charge, claiming he had never said those words, or anything like them.
"It's a misunderstanding," Vicari said. "This will clear it up: I know you work hard, you're professionals, and we value your work."
Vicari later said in the context of a labor negotiation, "I think this is purely a political ploy."
Thinking about the accusation, Vicari said he didn't recall meeting Alexander, but would like to speak with him, either in person or by phone.
"Have him call me, we'll straighten this out," Vicari told Klem. "I'd love to hear from him."
Alexander could not be reached for comment.
The freeholder board has a considerable record of concern and compassion for county workers, said Freeholder Gerry Little.
"None more so that Joe Vicari," Little added, saying as a school administrator and liaison to senior service programs and county employment services, Vicari has more experience than the rest of the board in dealing with people.
American Soldiers Fighting Abroad
Public debate later continued with a few moments of tension after Manalapan resident Ray Kalainikas asked the freeholder board to back efforts to stop the war in Iraq.
The Monmouth County resident read from a photo caption of a nun whose sign pleaded for the end of warfare.
Kalainikas pleaded for the governing body to pledge to support peace talks.
Moments later, Holiday City resident Nick Nichols, of Berkeley, said he was in the military for three years and fought in Vietnam, and blasted any talk about leaving Iraq before the job was done."
Pulling out prematurely would be a cowardly act, Nichols claims, and one that would be foreign to the American way of life."
"That isn't the way we do things," he later said. "We start something, we see the job through. That's just the way we are, what's expected of us."
Nichols warmed to the task by saying he was a disabled vet who "didn't regret even a single moment of my time in service."
When he turned to sit down, the audience of about three dozen, including the five freeholders, gave him a warm ovation.
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