POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Borough officials clashed Tuesday over a declaration by finance committee chairman Tom Migut that he plans to engage former officials to help conduct an audit of legal and engineering expenditures over the past 18 months.
Councilman Migut said that former Point Beach Mayor Vincent Barrella and former planning board Chairman William Ammaratta would assist with the audit.
However, Mayor Paul Kanitra challenged the plan as an unnecessary exercise in “political gamesmanship” and borough Attorney Kevin Riordan questioned its legality, noting that it had not been voted on by the finance committee.
“One committee member cannot do this,” Mr. Riordan said. “The committee might be able to do it, but they’d have to vote to do it.”
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Then, in an apparent allusion to past tensions, the borough attorney turned to Mayor Kanitra and added, “And I might just note that Mr. Barrella and Mr. Ammaratta have well-known political agendas and if you needed help, you would turn to others.”
The exchange ended with Mr. Migut uttering a tense “All right” as the council was about to open a public hearing on the proposed $17.7 million municipal budget, which was introduced on April 5.
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