Mayor of N.J. town under fire for moving 200-year-old painting out of the public eye and into his office – NJ.com

The mayor of an Essex County town says he was trying to save a 200-year-old painting from water damage when he moved the piece – appraised at $125,000 – out of the Belleville Public Library and into his office down the street.

But some have accused Mayor Michael Melham of swiping “Landscape of Belleville,” from the public’s view and hanging it in his locked, private office at Town Hall.

“I have no idea why this is an issue. There is nothing nefarious here,” Melham told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. “We’re facing a $6 million budget deficit and this is what a handful of outspoken critics have chosen to focus on.”

David Hatch, 76, of Connecticut, says he found the painting when he was 12 years old in the basement of his Belleville home. “After I cleaned it off with soap and water, I realized it was a historical treasure,” Hatch said in an interview on Wednesday.

Hatch says he is a descendent of Belleville founding father Josiah Hornblower (”a great-grandfather at least five times down the line”) and that his family, after much consideration, decided the painting should be donated to the town.

In 1962, the Hatch family gave the painting to the Belleville Historical Society. The historical society, with nowhere to hang the artwork, gave it to the library.

The painting, which was created in the 1800s, remained on display at the library for nearly 60 years until the mayor removed it last fall, Hatch said.

Hatch fired off a letter on March 2 to Belleville Police Chief Mark Minichini, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and others, demanding that the painting be returned to the library “immediately and safely.”

“That anyone would take a historical artifact from the people of their community in order to decorate their private office is very difficult to believe,” Hatch wrote.

“The unauthorized removal of this valuable painting from the library was an act of selfishness and irresponsibility,” Hatch said in the letter.

The removal of the painting from the library might have been acceptable if it had remained in the public eye, said Michael Perrone, president of the Belleville Historical Society.

“Melham took the painting not for display in the public spaces of Town Hall such as the town council chambers or the township manager’s office, but he took it to decorate his newly decorated and always locked private office,” Perrone said in an email Tuesday.

“No business meetings are conducted in the mayor’s office,” Perrone said, calling the mayor’s job “largely ceremonial.”

The mayoral position in the town of about 35,000 also holds a seat on the 7-member council, which a non-partisan form of government.

Melham, however, denies his office is “private” and says he’s met with dignitaries from countries including China and Peru and regularly reads children’s books to local students who gather there.

Some of the events were for “Read Across America,” Thanksgiving, welcoming new businesses and “Ugly Sweater Day,” he said, forwarding photos of public events held in the office with the painting in the background.

“Here you go, all on my various social media channels, been there since before November 2020. Now it’s an issue?” Melham said in an email with photos.

In addition, Melham said library board members passed a resolution in June authorizing the loaning of the painting to the mayor’s office until renovations can be made to repair the library’s leaky roof and windows.

Melham said he expects the town council to soon approve spending about $250,000 in bonds to fix the library. “The painting was at risk in the library and I’m keeping it safe,” Melham said.

The public outcry, Melham said, seems to be coming from a group of critics who have spoken out against him repeatedly since he took office 2 and ½ years ago.

“I must be doing something good in Belleville if all they’re worrying about is a painting that’s been sitting in the library for 60 years,” the mayor said.

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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.