Hamilton Councilman Kevin Meara has put out a statement saying he opposes the mayor's plan to abolish the town's local ethics board in favor of a state one.

"I have not lost faith in the people of Hamilton Township, though I understand why they may have lost faith in their government and I believe that there is a wealth of residents with the integrity to sit on the Township Ethics Board.," he said in the statement.

Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede proposed getting rid of the town's ethics board as part of an ethics reform package announced Monday.

“It’s very important to me to remove the politics from the process,” she said at the time.

She also highlighted the plan at her State of the Township address Tuesday. It will also involve expanding the town's gift policy to cover its boards and commissions as well as annual training for managers and supervisors.

Only the abolition of the township's ethics board needs to go before council, which it could as early as Feb. 19. Yaede's plan would have the town use the state's Local Finance Board instead of the local one.

The full statement is below. I'll be working on more information soon.

Hamilton Township Councilman Kevin Meara today announced that he would not support Mayor Yaede’s proposal to abolish the Hamilton Twp. Ethics Board in favor of oversight by the DCA Local Finance Board. “I have not lost faith in the people of Hamilton Township, though I understand why they may have lost faith in their government and I believe that there is a wealth of residents with the integrity to sit on the Township Ethics Board. There are many Maurie Perillis, Peter Inversos and for that matter Ileana Schirmers living here and it is our duty to make serving on the Board rewarding enough for them to come forward”, said the Councilman.  Meara, while initially considering Yaede’s proposal, indicated that he was in favor of “home rule” and after hearing public comment at Tuesday’s Council meeting investigated the proposal further. The Councilman continued, “I think Kelly had the right intentions and with time in the job, the Mayor will learn that while Hamilton may have some “foxes”, there are high-quality people residing here and with all due respect, I would put Hamilton’s residents up against the membership of the DCA’s LFB any day of the week.”  Meara was referring to Yaede’s press release where she referred to a local board as “the fox guarding the hen house” in addition to media coverage of Local Finance Board member Idida Rodriguez of Paterson who was part of a Passaic Valley Water Commission investigation by the attorney general, where she was investigated for steering contracts. “This is just the type of “cloud” that we in Hamilton are trying to steer away from”, added Meara.  Council President Ed Gore announced at Tuesday’s Council meeting that the Council would take up the Mayor’s proposal when she presented more information, but Meara sees no need now. “I will recommend to Council President Gore that this proposal should be DOA,” concluded Meara.