Blinded by the blizzard?
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
3/7/2010

Changes may be coming to the township in the wake of an employee’s statements to the press, but representatives believe Cherry Hill has been run efficiently during Mayor Bernie Platt’s month-long absence.

Even with the promise of possible changes, Cherry Hill Republican Chairman Rich Ambrosino called for Platt to demand Chief of Staff Dan Keashen’s resignation.

Keashen was under fire last week after the Courier-Post reported he had lied about the whereabouts of Platt during the early February snowstorm. The Courier-Post reported that Keashen told a reporter Platt had been around during the storm and had gone on a ride-along with township Department of Public Works vehicles as they cleared streets.

During the snowstorm the mayor was on vacation in Florida, something he has traditionally done for entire month of February the past 15 years, Platt said.

Keashen said he “misspoke” about Platt’s whereabouts. Last week after the conclusion of a pre-winter storm meeting at the department of public works building, he again stressed that he simply misspoke when talking with the reporter.

“I misspoke. I’d like to clarify that it was an unfortunate lapse in judgment. I regret it very much,” he said.

During Platt’s vacation Township Administrator Maris Kukainis has served as the acting mayor of Cherry Hill.

Ambrosino demanded Platt call for Keashen’s job after the fallout.

“Keashen’s taxpayer-funded, $80,000 position demands he be both competent and accountable. In this instance, he’s being neither,” he said. “Mayor Platt owes it to the people that pay both of their salaries to assure they are not being lied to or receiving false information, especially when we are under a state of emergency.”

Council President David Fleisher said the mayor’s traditional month-long vacation is not “ideal,” but Cherry Hill has operated efficiently during the mayor’s absence.

Fleisher went on to say that the mayor is entitled to a vacation and his absence has not kept members of council from focusing on its core agenda.

“I’m open to any feasible way to ensure transparency. That includes even a simple Web site posting in the event that the mayor is absent for a prolonged period of time,” he said.

“The mayor controls his own schedule. He is entitled to a vacation, but despite his regular contact with town hall, a month-long vacation is not ideal, at the very least because of the perception it brings. But, from my perspective and council’s, the mayor’s absence has not impeded our progress on the core agenda.”

Platt said in response to residents saying the mayor should be in the township during these possible emergency weather situations, he would re-evaluate his vacation length in the future.

During the snowstorms, Keashen and Kukainis said Platt had been in constant contact with the township and its utility services to ensure that the cleanup ran smoothly. Last Wednesday at 2 p.m., representatives from the township police force, fire district, EMS services, DPW, maintenance crews, school district, council and library huddled together to prepare for Thursday’s predicted storm.

Platt called in by phone and was conferenced into the DPW building. He ran through the preliminary checklist of preparations for the next day’s storm. He planned to speak with the township again later in the day after another weather forecast broke and then all day Thursday and Friday during the storm.

Asked if this meeting was any different than the meeting he had attended in early December, Platt and his staff said the only difference was his “physical presence.” Platt, who takes a salary of about $65,000, but whose full salary is $73,000, said he keeps in touch with the township through his personal cell phone and phone line.

“Except for my physical presence, this is no different at all,” Platt said. “I’m still available at any time at all.”

Keashen said that in the future anytime Platt is gone from the township for more than one week a notice would be posted on Cherry Hill’s Web site and it would most likely be mentioned at the township council meetings.