- The contract was submitted by Benecke on behalf of his firm Beneke Economics on Oct. 3, 2022 and included his “team” of experts, specifically mentioning Chelsea Gleis and “two Ph.D holders State University of California and Economics Princeton“.
- The proposal was apparently e-mailed to the borough’s labor attorney, Matthew Giacobbe in response to his request for the proposal. The three page document was signed electronically by Beneke;
- It was agreed to and approved by Borough Administrator Robert Feragina on Oct. 7, 2023;
- It was approved by resolution 2022-152 at a regular council meeting Oct. 13, 2022 with Sena in attendance. Official records do not show either an executive meeting or a discussion at the Oct. 13 meeting before action was taken.
- The resolution for approval on Oct. 13, 2022, was introduced by Councilman James Murphy, again with Sena in attendance, and seconded by Brian Dougherty, and unanimously approved with all council members present.
- The administrator’s Oct. 7 signature on the document, with or without the 2023 error, appears to bind the borough to that agreement … some SIX days BEFORE the Council Resolution,
- The experts agreement said the areas of work included “to prepare a financial structure and impact analysis (report) on the proposed consolidation of the Highlands Elementary, Atlantic Highlands Elementary and the Henry Hudson Regional High School districts as well as the possible consolidation of Sea Bright schools.”
- The contract Beneke sent, and Ferragina approved, reads “Prepare a financial structure and impact analysis (report) on the proposed consolidation of the Highlands Regional, Atlantic Highlands, and the Henry Hudson Regional school districts as well as the possible consolidation of Sea Bright schools…”
- It does not appear that Mr. Benecke was aware, when he signed and sent the contract, of the towns, the number of schools, and where they are located, or the districts involved.
- Mr. Benecke’s approved contract continues to read “if we are selected, Highlands will be well served with objective state of the art services and advice…..”
- The signed Oct. 3 contract continues that Beneke “thoroughly understands the scope of services, regionalization, school consolidation and the arising fiscal impacts…”
- In explaining why he was qualified for the job, Mr. Beneke included several paragraphs of his background experience, noting he has “worked on many transactions from a structuring viewpoint….”
- The contract sent Oct. 3 also said the work would be completed within two weeks of signing the contract.
In indicating Beneke would be the financial consultant at the mediation, the Atlantic Highlands Council did not pass, or even discuss publicly or hold any executive session whether this requires an amended contract with the consultant to appear at mediation sessions with Highlands. Nor did the resolution approved at the Council table six days after it was approved by the administrator make any reference to any work other than “examining debt, expenses, impacts of levies and tax rates, providing guidance, and preparing an assessment distribution and fiscal plan,” unless ” other financial work as necessary” includes mediation discussions with the Highlands financial consultant in a formal mediation within the same $6,000 contract.
However, at the March 9 Borough Council meeting, when attorney Matthew Giacobbe appeared via ZOOM and explained the mediation process in more detail, he said he had asked Beneke “to assist us.” It appears from further statements by Giacobbe that Beneke has either never communicated any of the results of his study of last October or he has not pursued the study yet.
The attorney did say the numbers in the Porzio and Kean regionalization reports “are not exact,” prompting former Councilaman and financial analyist Michael Harmon to urge that the numbers be in place before mediation.
Harmon also expressed surprise that this has not been accomplished and agreement of numbers is apparently still not in place just over two weeks before a scheduled mediation.
Since both Harmon and Sea Bright councilman Erwin Bieber had earlier presented numerous figures and calculations in reports before the governing body, Councilman Jon Crowley said they would forward those reports to Beneke as well., Giacobbe said “we want to have him look at it” as he has been doing..