PMUA's 10th Anniversary dinner had surprises for some

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About 150 guests crowded the banquet room at the Spain Inn on Friday evening for a dinner celebrating the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority's 10th anniversary.

Known to many as a PMUA watering hole since Plainfield's Lily Greenleaves restaurant closed a number of years ago, the popular Piscataway restaurant lived up to its reputation for bountiful food and conviviality last evening.

Besides the obligatory remarks from past and present Board members and dignitaries such as Assemblyman Jerry Green, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and former councilpersons Liz Urquhart, Joe Montgomery and Malcolm Dunn, one of the two surprises of the evening came from a guest who was not even present.

A letter from former Commissioner Phil Bartlett, who was unable to attend, was read to the audience by a staff member and brought the house down.

Bartlett used the opening words of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities -- "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." -- to set up his review of his eight years on the Board of Commissioners.

The audience laughed uproariously at his retelling of the attacks on the PMUA in its early years by members of the City Council, the lawsuit brought by some of them which cost the taxpayers nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and the wrangling by a tiny handful of residents who wanted special treatment.

There were some unusual seatings noted in the room.

Former Councilman Bob Ferraro and PMUA Commissioner-designate Alex Toliver and his wife Diane shared a table with myself, Councilman Cory Storch, PMUA Commissioners Nat Singleton and Joanne Sloane and Housing Authority Commissioner and former school board member Roni Taylor. Ferraro excused himself and left immediately after Bartlett's letter had been read.

Freeholder Adrian Mapp and his wife Amelia shared a table with former mayor Rick Taylor and his wife Gloria.

And early PMUA supporter Frank D'Aversa and his wife Liz, both Democratic City Committee members, sat with acting Director of Public Works and Urban Development Jenny Wenson-Maier at a table that also held Assemblyman Jerry Green, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and Oliver Brown of Oveter's Construction.

Some members of the audience were also surprised by guest speaker Wayman J. Pearson's talk of 'succession planning' as an item of business that needed to be on the Commissioners' agenda right away.

Pearson, of Charlotte, North Carolina, said at least three times that Executive Director Eric Watson was a desirable commodity and presumably would not be present at a celebration of the agency's next ten years -- at least not as its executive.

Rumor has it that Watson is in the running for executive director of Baltimore's utilities authority.

When I left at 10:30 p.m., dessert and coffee were being served and it looked like the party would last a good while longer. It would be safe to say a good time was had by all -- or at least almost all.

-- Dan Damon

Keywords: PMUA