The deputy clerk was issued a Rice notice and requested that the issue be discussed publicly
TRENTON -- The city's deputy clerk found herself on the other side of the dais Tuesday night after she was issued a Rice notice over concerns about an unrecorded meeting.
The notice stemmed from the Feb. 18 meeting when Cordelia Staton was filling in for City Clerk Richard Kachmar, who had been out sick all week with the flu.
Even though she could hear the sound through the headphones and periodically checked that the audio was being captured, there was no recording of the meeting, which had drawn an unusually large crowd because the mayor was nominating his picks for municipal judges.
Staton, who requested that the issue be discussed in public session, said she created the minutes from her written notes.
"You don't rely on the recording; you use your notes," she said. "I have nothing to gain other than giving you an honest account of what happened that evening."
She read from a series of emails between her and several council members, accusing them of showing a lack of respect and professionalism toward her and questioning her integrity and whether she was undermining Kachmar's authority.
Staton said she also felt belittled when at a later meeting, Councilman George Muschal asked Kachmar, "Is the recorder on?" and she could hear Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward snickering in the background.
"Why did I have to come before this whole public body to prove that I didn't do something?" she said. "That's like y'all don't trust me from the go if every time something happens, I'm suspect like I did it maliciously or I did it intentionally."
She said there was never any fuss when the same incident happened to Kachmar and former clerk Leona Baylor.
"Everybody is trying to get it right," Staton said. "Everybody has missteps. It's unfortunate. You wish there wasn't, but it's not a perfect world."
Councilman Alex Bethea was disappointed in large part because he believed it was one of his best meetings, but said council has a responsibility to hold the clerk's office accountable.
"We can question the duties and the accountability of the work," he said. "That's our job and if we're not doing our job because someone has a problem with it, we can't stop."
Muschal, who routinely requests copies of the recordings, said the issue has been blown out of proportion and council has no ill will toward Staton.
"This wasn't going after anyone," he said. "This was only trying to find out if Ms. Staton had an error that night or whatever went down so it doesn't occur again."
He said the city needs to upgrade its antiquated machines and put the matter to rest.
"We'll buy another machine, we'll buy two machines," he said. "This was not an attack to get rid of you."
Kachmar praised Staton's work, saying the problem could have been the result of human error or machine malfunction, but there is no way to know with certainty.
Bethea, Muschal and Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson were the three that had emailed Kachmar, requesting that a Rice notice be issued, but Council President Zachary Chester said there was no reason for it to escalate to that point since it will now go in Staton's personnel file.
"I think there was some underhanded stuff going on because for this body not to understand when to Rice someone and when to have a conversation with someone ... we would not have gotten to this point," he said. "So now we're here and there was a full account given. What did we learn? The same thing that was in the memo and the public has learned there are some things that go on behind the scenes from members of this body that are not right."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.