Alan Spiniello
Alan Spiniello (Spiniello) is an attorney and was the Borough attorney during the relevant time herein. Spiniello testified that as Borough Attorney he has been Borough attorney since 2009, and regularly attends mayor and council meetings for the Borough. He stated that he was familiar with the circumstances leading up to the Borough appointing Cuccia and the contract with Treasury Services. Spiniello testified that Cuccia was well known in the municipal finance community as he had a CPA and had been chief financial officer for several other municipalities in New Jersey. Spiniello further testified that Cuccia had been borough manager for the Borough in the past.
Spiniello stated it was his professional opinion that the Borough’s contract with Treasury Services was not subject to competitive bidding because it involved professional services and computer software upgrades. Spiniello also testified that he was responsible for negotiating all of the contracts with Treasury Services, Cuccia and Biondi in 2012 and subsequent contracts with Treasury Services in later years, and that Luna did not participate in the Borough meetings concerning the same. He stated that Luna did not want to be involved in any Borough discussions regarding Treasury Services and Cuccia because his daughter, Biondi had worked for them. Spiniello stated:
Q: Do you recall Mr. Luna excusing himself during -- at any point when the mayor and council discussed these proposals?
A: Yes, from the very inception -- when the proposal came in, the first time Mr. Luna had an opportunity to speak about it he immediately mentioned that, you know, “I just want to let you know that I have a potential conflict, I’m not going to take part in this discussion. My daughter, Sheri Biondi, has done some part time work for Mr. Cuccia,” …
