HOBOKEN -- Councilman Michael DeFusco is calling on fellow councilman and mayoral rival Ravi Bhalla to disclose details of the relationshp between his law firm and Hoboken's private water supplier, Suez, which has been renegotiating with Bhalla's most prominent backer, Mayor Dawn Zimmer, on a new city contract.

"Ravi Bhalla's failure to disclose that Suez is a client of his law firm at this moment when the City Council must decide on a decades-long agreement worth tens of millions of taxpayer dollars is the antithesis of transparent government," DeFusco said in a statement on Thursday.

Councilman Michael DeFusco during Wednesday night's Hoboken City Council meeting.

Bhalla, one of three lawyers on his 4-person mayor-and-council slate in the November election, is a partner at the Rochelle Park firm of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader. In his campaign press release calling for "full disclosure" of the relationship by Bhalla, DeFusco cited a New Jersey Law Journal article stating Florio, Perrucci was paid $130,000 by Suez in 2015 for lobbying work.

The date of the reported payments is significant, DeFusco said, because Bhalla said in response to a question at Wednesday's City Council meeting that his firm had negotiated the utility's original contract with the city in the early 1990's, but that he did not know of any recent business his firm had with Suez.

On his city council web page, Bhalla's biography states that he is "an attorney-at-law with offices in Rochelle Park," but it does not give the name of the firm. Bhalla has a page on the Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader web site, where he is described as "an experienced federal and state court litigator in the areas of local government law, employment law, complex civil litigation."

Councilman Ravi Bhalla during Wednesday night's meeting.

Last month, Zimmer announced a new deal she had struck with Suez, which would increase the company's annual maximum spending obligation on repairs from $350,000 to $1.8 million, relieving the city of up to $1.45 million a year in repair bills it would be obligated to pay under the current contract's terms. In exchange, water rates would rise by about 2 percent a year for seven years, starting in 2018.

The contract had been scheduled for a vote by the City Council on Wedneday night, but was pulled from the agenda prior to the meeting. Even so, the council was poised to hear a presentation from a Suez representative, when Councilman Ruben Ramos suggested Bhalla could be in a conflict because of the firm's work for Suez, formerly known as United Water.

"Councilman, your firm does work for Suez," Ramos said to Bhalla.

DeFusco weighed in, saying, "I question whether this is a conflict."

Bhalla angrily denounced what he called a highly public "set-up." He acknowledged that, in the 1990's, a partner of his at the firm had negotiated the original contract for Suez, then known as United Water. But he said it was "when I was in high school."

Bhalla said the firm had "thousands" of clients at any given time, and he did not know who they all were. He agreed to recuse himself for the time being, but said he was "astounded" by DeFusco's accusation and attacked his character.

"Rather than being a gentleman, which I mistakenly suspected you were, you could have certainly picked up the phone and had a conversation with me," Bhalla said, as fellow council members, city offiails and the public looked on. "And we could have tried to work this out, rather than try to set me up in public, in front of the cameras."

Bhalla said he was confident the city's corporation council, Brian Aloia, would determine there was no conflict, though Aloia said he could not render an opinion "on the fly" without researching the matter.

A campaign spokesman for Bhalla, Rob Horowitz, released a statement on Thursday, accusing DeFusco of deliberately ambushing Bhalla.

"If Mr.DeFusco was truly interested in good government he would have mentioned his concern before the meeting," the statement read, in part.

Zimmer endorsed Bhalla to succeed her as mayor in June, at the same time she announced she would not seek a third 4-year term in Hoboken's November non-partissan elections.

in response to a request for comment, her administration released a statement insisting Bhalla had nothing to do with the Suez talks.

"The administration negotiates contracts as it has done with the SUEZ proposal," the statement said. "The council's role is to vote on the contract and is not involved in the negotiations or terms."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.