TBD

Fallout from the recent months’ series of Cultural & Heritage Committee resignations continues as the group is without a Middlesex Borough Council liaison to open 2024.

Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk named council liaisons for 22 boards, commissions and committees at the Jan. 2 reorganization meeting. Left conspicuously without a liaison was the C&H Committee.

The meeting’s agenda included a resolution naming the liaisons. While all other groups had a council member listed in the right-hand column on a print-out of that resolution, the C&H group did not. Instead, it read “TBD,” for To Be Determined.

Since 2020 when the group was formed, Councilman Jeremiah Carnes had been its council liaison. But that was before recent months’ events.

The council accepted five resignations in October and November combined from the C&H Committee. Carnes was absent from both meetings. At both sessions, Mikolajczyk – then a councilman – commented that it was unusual to have so many resignations from a borough board or committee in such as short time period. He asked if any colleagues had an explanation.

None did – at least not publicly – and the sentiment expressed was that Carnes would be the appropriate person to comment since he works with the C&H group.

Carnes missed three consecutive council meetings but returned on Dec. 19. But at that session, he was not asked to explain the resignations and offered no reasons for them. That meeting was the last for former Mayor John Madden and was devoted largely to recollections from him and tributes from colleagues.

Reached for comment by Inside – Middlesex on Dec. 21 via Facebook private message, Carnes deferred extensive comment. “I really don’t have anything to say until the whole story comes out at once,” Carnes wrote, adding “there is a deepness to this.”

Carnes was again absent from the Tuesday, Jan. 2 reorganization meeting when liaisons were named for all groups except C&H. He has missed four of five council meetings held over an 11-week period, including a phone-in session on Dec. 8.

Asked about the TBD designation after the reorganization meeting, Mikolajczyk said he will continue to seek an explanation for the resignations. Carnes notified the borough clerk prior to the reorg session and explained he would miss it due to illness, according to the mayor.

Mikolajczyk said he’d like Carnes to explain his “deepness” comment. The mayor also said it might make sense to in some way have the library’s board of trustees working with C&H.

Historical projects, Mikolajczyk said, would be “tailor-made” for the library group. “Why have two sets of people doing the exact same thing?” he added.

The mayor said it’s appropriate to obtain Carnes’ side of the resignations before addressing the concerns and opinions of those who left C&H. Carnes should respond to the council in writing and be prepared to publicly answer questions, Mikolajczyk said.

“It’s not going to go away and I don’t want it to go away,” Mikolajczyk said. “It should be answered. It’s only right.”

Although no C&H liaison was named at the reorg, three members were appointed to that committee. Hardik Shah, Mark Holmes and Mark Kranz were appointed to three-year terms that expire at year-end 2026.

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