Prosecutor says Evesham officials' e-mails violated state law

A private e-mail chat among Evesham officials during the review of a controversial helipad project violated the state's public meetings law, the Burlington County prosecutor said in a written opinion released Friday.

After a nearly six-week investigation, Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi found that a series of smartphone e-mail exchanges March 22 and 23 involved township business and should have taken place at a public meeting.

"In short, the e-mails represent an active dialogue between members of council that sometimes occurs in almost real time. If these discussions had occurred in person, no one could reasonably dispute that a violation of the OPMA [Open Public Meetings Act] had occurred."

The mayor, council members, town manager, and other officials participated in the exchange, which spanned 20 hours. The officials discussed public complaints about the proposed helipad and whether to adopt a planning board recommendation to ban helicopter taxi service at the helipad.

The exchange took place after Conner Strong & Buckelew, a politically influential insurance firm, proposed a helicopter pad at the Lake Center Executive Park in Marlton, off Route 73 and Cropwell Road. The company's founder and executive chairman is South Jersey Democratic leader George E. Norcross 3d.

The project recently was approved by the town and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Bernardi decided not to press charges against the public officials, which could have meant a $100 fine for each.

"There is absolutely no legal precedent addressing this unique issue," he said, noting that the open meetings act was enacted in 1976, long before BlackBerrys and iPhones.

The officials simply made a mistake, he said.

Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki said Evesham officials were thankful Bernardi decided "no sanctions were warranted" and said the e-mail exchange was not intended to circumvent the act.

Mayor Randy Brown, who previously said he could not comment until the probe was complete, did not return calls or e-mails. Nor did any council members.

Bernardi warned town officials to develop written guidelines on the use of e-mails and to file a copy with his office. In an e-mail response to The Inquirer, he also wrote that he would send a copy of his decision to all municipal governing bodies in Burlington County for their review.