North Haledon Mayor: Personal Use Of Municipal Generator Was 'Wrong Decision'
NORTH HALEDON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- There wasn't much 'power to the people' in the days after the storm, but two public officials in one New Jersey town were able to help themselves to the municipal power supply.
Most people in North Haledon were out in the cold, but the ice cream at Mayor Randy George's store apparently wasn't cold enough.
George accepted the Department of Public Works Superintendent's offer of a spare generator to keep the refrigerator at his ice cream shop running.
1010 WINS' John Montone Reports
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Looking back on it, George admits it may not have been the smartest move.
"I shouldn't have said 'yes.' I should have said 'no' and the next morning when I woke up, I realized I should have said 'no' and I brought the generator back," the mayor told 1010 WINS' John Montone.
The mayor also allowed Police Chief Robert Bracco to take another municipal generator home.
George said he believed he was authorized to allow Bracco to use the generator after all the hours he had been working in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
But as for his own use of the equipment, George said he may not have been thinking clearly.
"I was in the middle of a lot of things. You know, getting a shelter ready, getting gas for the emergency vehicles. I wasn't thinking and I made...it was a wrong decision," George said.
Some local residents who spoke with 1010 WINS' Montone said they were none too pleased, despite the mayor's mea culpa.
"That's wrong," said one resident, adding the mayor should "go get his own generator."
North Haledon's Borough Council has turned the matter over to the borough attorney, who is currently probing the situation to determine if laws were broken.
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