Drug bust raises questions Alliance members ask to see drug-education budget
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On Feb. 4, the Hudson County Drug Task Force raided a Humboldt Street home allegedly seized $500,000 worth of cocaine and $30,000 in cash.
Several residents were concerned over the location of the drug arrest, which was within 50 feet of the town's recreation center.
"This is a very dangerous situation," Tom Troyer said during the public portion of the Feb. 11 Town Council meeting. "As a member of the Board of Education, people have told me there is a trouble with drugs in town. That is the reason the Board of Education has authorized a new drug survey. But when something like this happens, it sends up a red flag that we have a problem here. We need to find out what is the extent of the problem. This is something we have to work together on. I was a drug counselor in Union City, and I don't agree with current program we have here."
Other members of the public asked how county police could detect and arrest a large alleged drug dealer in the center of town when local police could not.
Councilman John Reilly, liaison to the police department, said the county has its own drug task force and sources of its own.
"They don't often tell our department when they are conducting an operation," he said. "But the arrest in town doesn't mean any drug dealing was going on here. The county could have gotten a tip elsewhere in the county and come here to make the arrest."
Several residents on the street said suspicious activity had been going on at the particular house for a long time, with numerous visitors driving up to the curb during the early morning hours. One resident who lived nearby said she had seen kids running from the house to the cars.
Barbara Napierski, a resident of Humboldt Street, had complained for months about strange activity on the block, saying that she had seen cars coming and going early in the mornings.
Mayor Dennis Elwell said local officials found out about the raid after it happened, but would not have interfered with the investigation had the town been notified.
Tom Troyer asked if it was routine that county failed to notify the local police during such operations.
Elwell the county did not bypass the town, but that county task force had its own resources, and often acted on its tips.
"There are been times when we have helped them, sometimes they have come in at our request," the mayor said.
Drug Alliance questions
Troyer, who has been involved in questions concerning state money issued to the town for drug education, asked if the town would receive a portion of the $30,000 seized in the raid.
Under provisions of the Municipal Alliance Program, local municipalities get aid for drug education based on the amount of drug fines and seizures. Troyer and members of the town's Drug Alliance board have recently questioned the allocation of the funds, and the use by the town to offset drug counseling costs in the school, rather than use for education.
Members of the Secaucus Municipal Drug Alliance - a volunteer advisory board designed to combat drug and alcohol misuse among kids - have raised questions about how their state grant money is being allocated.
The Alliance, which is part of a state network of municipal alliances funded by fines received from convicted drug offenders, is supposed to set up programs that will educate kids about drug and alcohol abuse and provide, if possible, services that will aid them in dealing with drug and alcohol-related problems.
Several members of the Alliance have asked in recent months for an accounting to determine how the state grant is being allocated in Secaucus and whether or not an increase in the grant this year requires the grant funds to be allocated differently.
Alliance member Donald Skinner, who has asked for a full financial disclosure concerning the drug alliance money in the past, questioned why a town official had called off the February meeting of the Allience.
Town Administrator Anthony Iacono grew hostile, and in a sharp exchange of words with Skinner, claimed no meeting had been scheduled for February, despite minutes from the January meeting that apparently showed a meeting had been set.
"That's nothing but a lie," Iacono snapped.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Skinner asked.
"What I'm saying is that the Alliance doesn't have to hold a meeting every month," Iacono said. "The rules say we have to have one six times a year."
In a series of questions better suited for a criminal trial than a council meeting, Skinner and other members of the public grilled the council.
Elwell, in response to one of these questions, challenged Skinner.
"I've been told that you may have misrepresented yourself as the person responsible for dealing with the Alliance's finances," Elwell said.
Skinner denied the charge, but said he had gone to various county offices in search of the Alliance's budget.
In an interview conducted after the council meeting, Skinner said he believed the meeting had been canceled to avoid his continued scrutiny of Municipal Drug Alliance financing. He and Rev. William Henkel, another member of the Alliance, said they have been unable to view a budget for the Alliance. In the past, the Drug Alliance had had little say in financing decisions, because most of the operations are conducted through the town and school business offices, and, in fact, fewer than six of the 20 or more members of the committee actually show up for the monthly meetings.
Although Iacono said the board members were volunteers and did not have the power of to vote on the Alliance budget or even determine how the money gets allocated, Skinner claimed the documents he is seeking are public record.
"Since we began questioning this, we found out that the town has been getting more money than Mr. Iacono told us," Skinner said.
Under this program, which is about 13 years old, the state sets aside a percentage of drug fines for education and treatment. These funds are divided among the state's 21 counties. Each county sets up its own system of how to use the money. Some counties develop a countywide drug education program. In Hudson County, the money is divided among the 12 municipalities based on the percentage of population in each town. Towns like Jersey City get the most, and towns like Secaucus, with its vastly smaller population, get less.
For most of the years, Secaucus has received about $19,000 in grants. The town must match this grant: 25 percent of this must be in cash, the remaining 75 percent can be in services such as salaries of employees administering the program, office space used and other items such as office supplies and instructional literature acquisition.
Under regulations set by the state, a grant under $20,000 can be used for a single purpose. In the past, Secaucus opted to use the money to provide a drug referral service for the school district. If a student is considered at risk for drug use or has displayed drug and alcohol related problems, the school calls experts from St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken, with whom the school district has a contract for about $60,000. The Alliance grant, with its matching fees from the town, helps offset the cost.
But Skinner and Henkel are also seeking to determine what services the town has supplied for drug counseling to help meet its 75 percent service obligation.
"We want to see how time and money have been used," Skinner said. "That's the kind of information we would find in the budget, and that's why we want to see it."
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