Township to expand investigation of Lower MUA By JACK FICHTER VILLAS – Lower Township Council voted Monday to allow Township Solicitor Ron Gelzunas to expand the collection of information and evidence for presentation to county and state authorities regarding misconduct and mismanagement of the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA). Council voted unanimously at an Oct. 20 meeting to ask for an investigation of activities of the MUA by the county Prosecutor’s Office, state Local Finance Board and state Attorney General. The township filed an OPRA request to obtain emails to follow the activities between the MUA, its solicitor and Lower Township Republican leaders. At that time, Mayor Michael Beck said the investigation needed to center on whether MUA board members and a staffer acted without its own board of commissioners meeting and approving the action. At Monday’s meeting the vote to expand the investigation was approved 4-1 with Councilman Tom Conrad casting the lone negative vote. He said the MUA was investigated by the county Prosecutor’s Office not too long ago and an arrest was made, referring to former MUA executive director Matt Ecker. “You’re just beating a dead horse,” continued Conrad. Gelzunas said council approved an investigation of the time period from Oct. 2 to Oct. 20 to any relevant enforcement agency, which included the county Prosecutor’s Office, state Attorney General’s Office and state Local Finance Board. He said the finance board would be looking at possible mismanagement of the MUA. Gelzunas said it wouldn’t make sense to send evidence from just the time period between Oct. 2 and Oct. 20. Conrad said he believed the MUA was “running very well,” with new board members. Councilman Erik Simonsen asked if a new investigation would interfere with an ongoing investigation by the county Prosecutor’s Office. Gelzunas said he did not know the status of the earlier investigation. Following the last meeting, the township submitted information on the MUA to the prosecutor’s office. Gelzunas said he believed the prosecutor’s office was looking at criminal allegations while the local finance board was looking at possible mismanagement of the MUA. Deputy Mayor Norris Clark said there was concern the MUA misappropriated funds by using public money for a public relations campaign. During public comment, Lower Township MUA Vice Chairman Tom Frisoli said council has done a great job of belittling him for the past six months. “As far as mismanagement, we at the MUA followed in your footsteps,” he said. “We didn’t hire without bids an architect and give him 400,000 plus dollars.” “We did a lot of things according to the way you manage and now it’s told as mismanagement,” continued Frisoli, who is a Lower Township Republican organization committeeman. He said the Nov. 4 election would tell the story. “You fought a good fight, you took it way too far and beyond by forgetting about all the more important business and just using two things to try to destroy so many innocent people,” said Frisoli. “After tomorrow to the victor goes the spoils,” concluded Frisoli. North Cape May resident John Skowronski complimented Beck, Clark and Councilman James Neville for their good work. “I remember how bad things were before you guys got on council and it’s refreshing to see how well you have done,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:36:45 +0000