Company stays away from forum
Posted by the Asbury Park Press [New Jersey] on 01/13/06
BY JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

TOMS RIVER — Angered that a representative of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp. did not attend the Jan. 9 meeting of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, Dover Township Council members said Tuesday that they will adopt a resolution demanding that the company send someone to future citizens committee meetings.

But even council members admitted that their resolution, which the council will consider Jan. 24, doesn’t really have any teeth.

“Ciba should have a representative at that CACCCC meeting every time,” Council President Gregory P. McGuckin said. “Unfortunately, we can’t force them to attend.”

Ciba spokeswoman Donna M. Jakubowski, who is normally the company’s representative at citizens committee meetings, said Thursday that she has a personal commitment that will prevent her from attending Monday meetings until at least the summer months.

“I’m somewhat surprised and somewhat disappointed that they’re making such a big deal out of it,” Jakubowski said of the citizens committee and the council. “If something specific were to come up regarding Ciba, we would certainly send a representative.”

In an e-mail she sent to Dr. Jerald A. Fagliano of the state Department of Health, Jakubowski indicated that her conflict would keep her from attending citizens commit-tee meetings until at least June.

“It’s unacceptable to this committee,” Citizens Committee Chairwoman Linda L. Gillick said. “They are very much a part of what we do here. We need them to be here.”

Representatives of Union Carbide Corp. and United Water Toms River almost always attend the citizens committee’s meetings, which have decreased from monthly sessions to four or five times a year. Also present are officials from the state Health Department, Department of Environmental Protection, and often, the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Citizens Committee member Kevin Root said he was also angered by Jakubowski’s e-mail. Root said he could not understand why someone else from Ciba can’t attend the meetings if Jakubowski is unable to come.

“It was one of the most cavalier e-mails I’ve ever seen,” Root said. “For them to just say we can’t make the time for you, that’s just pathetic.”

Camelot Drive resident Carol A. Benson said she is disturbed that Ciba cannot send a representative to the citizens committee meetings, but does frequently send representatives to other meetings involving its Route 37 West property.

“The state should mandate that someone be here from Ciba,” Benson said.

Fagliano said the state cannot do that, and noted that the meetings in Dover are run by the citizens committee, not state officials.

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Dover to demand that Ciba attend cancer cluster meeting