When Somerset County Freeholder Patricia Walsh attended a conference in Washington last year with other elected officials from counties across the nation, many were perplexed by the title on her name tag.

“People were saying to me, ‘What’s a freeholder?’” Walsh remembered yesterday. “So I scratched out ‘Freeholder’ and wrote ‘County Commissioner’ instead. Then, they knew what my role was.”

She may never have to do that again.

The state Assembly may soon vote on a bill that changes the title of the elected officials who oversee county government from “freeholder” to “county commissioner” — a move that would affect all of the state’s 21 counties. Many officials say the term is outdated, offensive and confusing.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli

The Hudson County Board of Freeholders should have sought new bids rather than drastically reducing a contract to provide medical services at the county jail and juvenile detention center.  

Superior Court Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli voided that amendment in a written decision Tuesday, saying the Board of Freeholders shouldn't have awarded the contract in the first place.

In his 14-page opinion, Gallipoli said allowing the amended contract to stand "would allow for the award of a contract which was never really put out for public bid."

Hudson County Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli is scheduled to hear arguments tomorrow on whether Hudson County improperly awarded a contract for prison medical services.

CFG Health Systems of Evesham filed a suit last month accusing the county of circumventing the law when it awarded the contract to a campaign donor to a freeholder and a former county employee.

A $1,000 political donation made to Freeholder Anthony Romano should have disqualified the winning company from bidding, CFG contends, adding in other counts that the whole process violated the Local Public Contracts Law. CFG officials say they believe their suit is the first to use the state's pay-to-play law to challenge a contract.

A superior court judge today questioned why the county rushed to award a prison medical services contract before getting the report of an expert it had hired.

“Why was there a rush to enter into the contract when they were spending money on an expert to see if the original contract was too much money,” Superior Court Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli asked attorney Edward J. Florio today.

The county Board of Freeholders hired Chicago doctor Ron Shansky in March to review its proposal for medical services at the county jail and juvenile correctional facility after bids came in high.

Now that the Hoboken Mayoral election is finally behind us, we can get back to monitoring Hoboken Government. 

Some important website changes are in progress.  This site will be monitoring all aspects of Hoboken government and will include the following areas; 

ELECTED OFFICIALS:

• Hudson County Freeholder Anthony Romano - District 5 - Hoboken
• Hoboken Mayor 
• Hoboken City Council

APPOINTED AND STATUTORY OFFICIALS:

• All "appointed" Hoboken City Officials
• All "statutory" Hoboken City - Licensed employees

Hudson County is in the cross-hairs of what may be the state's first pay-to-play lawsuit, a challenge to a $22 million contract for medical services at the jail and juvenile detention center.

CFG Health Systems of Evesham is accusing the county of circumventing the law when it awarded the contract to a campaign donor and former employee.

A $1,000 political donation made to Freeholder Anthony Romano should have disqualified the winning company from bidding, CFG contends, adding in other counts that the whole process violated the Local Public Contracts Law.

Hoboken Police Capt. Anthony "Stick'' Romano was sworn in this morning as the city's representative on the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, the county government's legislative body, The Jersey Journal is reporting on Hudson County Now.

Romano replaces Maurice Fitzgibbons, who decided against running last year for a sixth three-year term as the representative for the 5th Freeholder District.