Freeholders Advised Against Meeting With Homeless Advocates

Ocean County freeholders will not be meeting privately with advocates for the local homeless population so long as "Tent City" litigation is pending against the county.

A dismissal of the suit filed on behalf of the homeless encampment in Lakewood's residents would enable the board's members to collaborate on potential solutions, however.

"From my perspective, if the individuals who filed the lawsuit are willing to dismiss the complaint... that would certainly clear the way and give us an avenue to sit down and have discussions," said county counsel John C. Sahradnik at the freeholders' regular meeting Wednesday.

Sahradnik shared his advice to freeholders in response to questioning by Larry Meegan, the president of the Kiwanis Club of Jackson and a public information officer for the Ocean County Library. Meegan was joined by in arguing on behalf of homeless residents and urging new solutions for the plight of those in poverty.

"You were generous and gracious with your time," Meegan said. "People spoke from the heart; you were very respectful to them," he told freeholders. But "we did issue a request for an opportunity to collaborate (and) sit together and discuss homelessness on a more extended basis... to maybe work together to accomplish that."

Meegan envisions a collaboration of county government, clergy, homeless, the business community and "concerned citizens" to come up with solutions to housing needs.

Speaker after speaker rose to talk at a meeting a month ago on homelessness, with only a few addressing the controversial encampment in Lakewood. Some argued for different philosophical approaches to assistance, others shared personal stories and some advocated for the purchase of land elsewhere to construct housing.

Freeholders allowed all to speak, but otherwise did not comment or commit to any of the approaches being advocated. Since then, Meegan had not heard officially from the board or its director, Joseph Vicari.

Sahradnik was sympathetic to Meegan's request, but explained that he felt a private meeting could stymie the board's effort to defend itself in court against "Tent City" litigation filed against Lakewood and Ocean County after the municipality tried to evict residents of the encampment off Cedar Bridge Avenue.

"As long as that complaint is pending... my advice to the board is, if we're in court we need to have the court make the decision and it would be inappropriate for the individual board members to be commenting on anything that would have the potential to be used in litigation against the county," Sahradnik said.

"So if there's a sincere interest in talking, if you'll go back to the folks who are part of your constituency group and advise them that the first step in that direction is to dismiss the complaint," the attorney told Meegan.

The Kiwanis Club president suggested that a meeting with a subset of the freeholders would not be "discoverable" in court. Sahradnik disagreed.

Freeholder Gerry Little, the chairman of human services, had suggested Meegan bring his concerns to a meeting of the county's advisory Continuum of Care committee, which meets monthly. But Meegan made clear he is hoping for specific efforts on behalf of the governing body.