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Several city residents showed up to the Tuesday, Oct. 8 council meeting detailing alleged remarks made by Councilman Leo Battaglia.
Royals FC Coach Shaun Holder is the first to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting. He says that on Sept. 12, Battaglia tried to have his team removed from a field that they had permits to play on, going as far as bringing police to the field, and then to another facility that they relocated to.
Then, on Sept. 16, Battaglia showed up to a game in Paramus "to slander and berate me and my players," Holder said.
City resident Nelly Zorrilla tells Daily Voice she was sitting in the stands when she overhead Battaglia, in Spanish, call Holder a racial slur. He then allegedly said: "He should know that the goalkeeper should be at least 5' 11" or have skills, but [Holder] is an idiot."
Daily Voice has reached out to Battaglia for comment.
Battaglia emigrated to Hackensack from Ecuador nearly 50 years ago and founded the city's Junior Soccer League in 1986. A retired business owner, Battaglia was a recreational coach for decades an was integral in bringing Hackensack a sports dome located near Johnson Park, to help kids stay active year-round.
Holder, in speaking to the council, said: "[Battaglia] made comments about the skills and appearance of the team... in front of my colleagues, friends, and family that come to support our game. I can only believe his actions toward me are a result of the color of my skin... I share this because I managed to do things a lot of people thought weren't possible. I hope Hackensack can make a stand together in saying this kind of behavior is never okay."
During the meeting, Mayor John Labrosse and Kathy Canestrino address the incident, saying an investigation into Battaglia has been opened.
The alleged remarks made by Battaglia appear to have spawned misconduct by Hackensack Councilman Gerard Carroll, who Canestrino said called her Thursday morning.
"He was very concerned about what happened as was I," Canestrino said. "All of this is very disturbing to everyone that's sitting here on this desk tonight."
Canestrino further said Carroll told her he was going to come to the meeting "and we were all going to be very unhappy because he was going to say the entire council are racist.
"I actually begged [Carroll] to reconsider and call out the individual that he is concerned about, not the rest of this council that had nothing to do with this issue. "I asked him to do what was correct and not to call this entire council racist."
And so, Canestrino and Labrosse have removed Carroll from their ballot for re-election.
The following statement was issued to Daily Voice from a City of Hackensack spokesman:
“As soon as other members of the City Council became aware of Councilman Battaglia’s actions the matter was immediately referred to the City Manager’s office for investigation. Mayor Labrosse, Deputy Mayor Canestrino and Councilwoman Von Rudenborg believe strongly that this conduct was not appropriate and they have each publicly called on Councilman Battaglia to apologize to Coach Holder and anyone else affected by this incident. Elected officials should be held to a high standard of conduct, and while he has been a dedicated public servant for many years it is clear that Councilman Battaglia did not meet that standard in this instance.”
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