The attorney for the Oceanport Board of Education received more than $60,000 in payments from the Board for the first six months of 2022, even though there is no evidence the attorney was ever retained for services this year.
When three telephone calls to the board of education during the past two months failed to release any information on the Machado Law Group which had been hired by the board under a one year contract in 2021, VeniVidiScripto filed an OPRA request to get copies of the minutes the board failed to release despite those repeated attempts.
The OPRA request also asked for payments made to the law firm.
Under OPRA laws, the Board has seven business days in which to respond to an OPRA request and this board took advantage of each of those seven days before producing the information.
It showed there has been no action this year to renew a contract with the Machado Law Group. But the reports obtained through the OPRA request also showed significant thousands of dollars were paid to the law firm since the original contract ended in January 2022.
While minutes of the 2022 reorganization meeting showed there were appointments for other professionals, including an architect, auditor, broker of record and purchasing agent, there was no appointment of a board attorney. The 2022 minutes show numerous appointments for mandated positions a board of education must maintain, appointments that range from an indoor air quality officer (Spiro Katechis) to an anti-bullying coordinator (Megan Bonett). But there is no reference to the appointment of an attorney.
The minutes forwarded to VeniVidiScripto from Laura D Godlesky Ph.D., Superintendent of schools, and signed by Edmund Zalewski, custodian of records only showed that the Machado Law Firm was hired for one year in January 2021.
The minutes from 2022, which are available on the Oceanport Board’s website, do reflect that “All insurance, tuition contracts, and professional contracts currently in force are reaffirmed for the respective terms of the agreement.” However, it does not appear that that could cover the Machado Group inasmuch as their term of agreement ended at the reorganization meeting.
While the payments paid since January do not reflect much more information that the total paid for diverse vouchers identified at “legal invoice,” or “invoice,” or Legal services, or “attorney,” the Machado Group received $60,174.73 from the Oceanport Board of Education between January and June of this year. It does not appear there have been any payments for July of 2022.
It is interesting to note, however, that there were two payments in June. One payment which totaled $3704.25, was apparently for legal work done in that month. However, a second payment of $11,725.50, was made to Machado Group for “Sea Bright Legal Services.”
While the cover letter from Mr. Zalewski corrects my spelling of the firm group‘s founding member’s first name, from Isabel to Isabelle, the correction of numbers and or dates received through the OPRA request do not appear to be as completely accurate. Under checks posted, there is a check paid to the Machado Group totaling $3844.50 identified as a “legal invoice. ”
It was issued Feb. 16, 2022. It was for services 12/ 22.
Next: Has the Machado Law group been present at any of the school regionalization workshops in Highlands or Sea Bright?
