Township Committee May Seek $10K back from Committeeman Critelli
- Kin Gee
- Feb 5, 2020
- 5 min read
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Feb. 5, 2020 – Last week’s Township Committee meeting was held in front of a packed audience, both for what was on the agenda and for what was not.
On the agenda was a resolution to refer violations of ethic charges to the New Jersey Local Finance board (also known as the NJ Ethics Board) for a $10,000 payment to Committeeman Tom Critelli shortly after he was sworn in as a Township Committee member in January 2013. The resolution passed by a vote of 4-0 (Critelli recused himself).
In the latest bombshell, the StarLedger/NJ.com now reports that the Township Committee may deliberate asking for the payment back from Critelli at the next Township Committee meeting. See link below for the news article published earlier today:
At issue was a payment of $9,872.50 to Critelli’s company Danitom Development in February 2013.
According to the letter from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the agreement for the additional payment was negotiated behind closed doors among Critelli, then-Mayor Pat Impreveduto and Committeeman Eric Hinds. Impreveduto claimed, in an Asbury Park Press article, that the “the town saved a lot of money in lawsuit” and “everything was above board, there was a bill submitted and it wasn’t nefarious at all.” (see link to article https://www.app.com/story/news/local/red-bank-middletown-area/holmdel/2020/01/28/holmdel-official-accused-conflict-over-10-k-check-his-own-firm/4589710002/?utm).
Hinds had originally said the same thing and that Critelli’s vote was an oversight. Interestingly, Hinds now indicated that he did nothing wrong, adding that the agreement to pay Critelli the additional $9,872 was “Impreveduto’s idea” intended simply to save the township money by avoiding a costly lawsuit.
In documents obtained through an OPRA request, Critelli and his wife signed a “Release For All Claims” on April 2, 2012 that “releases and forever discharges the Township of Holmdel …from any and all claims, demands, damages, actions, causes of action or suits of any kind or nature whatsoever …” . (Emphasis added.)
Based on this release signed more than 7 months before the payment in question, any concerns by Impreveduto and/or Hinds of a lawsuit was baseless and any assertion that they saved money from a lawsuit seems false and misleading.
In an earlier Patch article published on Jan. 29, 2020 (see link below), Critelli told the reporter that: "In total, I agreed I would take 50 percent of the $79,000, a little under $40,000." Critelli went on to say that "the insurance company would pay $30,000 and the rest would come from the Township. I took a bath on that remaining $40,000."
We now know that Critelli filed a Notice of Tort Claim with Holmdel Township on November 23, 2011 seeking reimbursement of around $79,000. In early January 2012, Scribal Associates, on behalf of Holmdel’s insurance carrier, verbally offered to Critelli $15,000 as a settlement. In an email sent to Robin Sulzer at Scribal Associates (and copied to Impreveduto, Hinds and then-Township Administrator Andy Katz), Critelli countered on Jan. 30, 2012 that he is willing to accept $39,464 to settle. After Sulzer responded with an offer of $20,000, Critelli then sent an email dated Feb. 14, 2012 to Sulzer (and again copied Impreveduto, Hinds and Katz) that “in an effort to resolve this dispute we would be willing to split the difference with you and settle for $30,000”. A release was then sent to Critelli and it was signed and notarized by the Critellis on April 2, 2012.
No one can fault Critelli for seeking reimbursement for storm damages if it was caused by the Township. However, what we do know is that, after back and forth negotiations, Critelli proposed & accepted a settlement of $30,000 and then signed a release discharging any and all future claims against the Township (see wording above). Thus far, we have not seen any written documentation from Scribal, Administrator Katz or members of the Township Committee that would contradict the signed release and that the settlement is not for $30,000. However, shortly after he was sworn in as a member of the Holmdel Township Committee in January 2013, there was a payment of $9,872.50 with no supporting details or public discussions to Critelli’s company Danitom Development for the same storm related damages.
Beyond the issues of: 1. whether the payment to Danitom Development was to obfuscate the fact that the payment was really to Critelli himself, 2. Whether Critelli should have recused himself due to conflict of interest, and 3. whether both Impreveduto and Hinds violated ethics law by securing unwarranted privileges or advantages for others in the form of $10,000 payment over and above an agreed settlement with a signed release (N.J.S.A. 4A:9-22.5c), there is the question whether Danitom, which is not a registered vendor with Holmdel, submitted a fraudulent invoice to Holmdel Township for “services” which it has no contractual agreement to provide to.
Last but not least, this almost never came to light. This issue came up last year during the investigation of former Township Administrator Donna Vieiro. In June 2019, outside Counsel revealed that new allegations including “forcing township employees to issue checks improperly, specifically a FEMA reimbursement to an unauthorized individual” came to light. Both Hinds and Critelli have to know that the FEMA payment referenced was about the $10,000 payment to Critelli’s company. On a motion to expand the investigation, both did not recuse themselves and, in fact, voted no and called the expanded investigation a witch hunt and a waste of money. See my earlier post for more details on this:
It is interesting to note that during the public comment session, one individual, in an attempt to defend Critelli and to deflect criticism, asked why when former Committeeman Mike Nikolis, a Holmdel First Aid volunteer, didn’t recuse himself from purchases for the First Aid Squad and no one thought that it was an issue. Of course, the individual conveniently ignores the fact that Nikolis doesn’t own the Holmdel First Aid Squad and doesn’t materially benefit directly from any equipment purchases for the First Aid Squad, a non-profit organization of more than 55 volunteers that provides much needed and appreciated services to Holmdel residents.
Fire Safety
Even though the new firehouse was not on the agenda, many residents and volunteer
firefighters were in the audience anxious for an update for the location of the new firehouse. Township Administrator Cherron Rountree announced that she has been speaking with the new professionals (appointed in January) and expects, barring any surprises, to have a public presentation of the various options for the location of the new firehouse at the next Township Committee meeting on Feb. 11th. Interested residents should keep an eye out for the agenda that will be released prior to the next meeting.
NJ Natural Gas Regulator Station
Mayor Greg Buontempo announced that the Township hired a new outside counsel, Peter Dickson of Potter and Dickson out of Princeton, in the legal proceeding by NJ Natural Gas to appeal the denial by the Holmdel Zoning Board to build an industrial gas regulator station. Dickson is noted as the attorney for the citizens group RAGE that successfully opposed JCP&L’s proposed high power transmission line through five towns (“MCRP”) in 2016 - 2018.
A public hearing for public comments for the gas regulator station has now been scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 13th, 6 PM, at the Senior/Community Center. Residents are encouraged to attend this public hearing. A residents group opposing this regulator station had scheduled a petition signing on Feb 3rd. Anyone that couldn’t make it to this petition signing event can still sign the online petition by clicking on the link: http://chng.it/4zVJw2NXyD
Stay tuned. It looks like the fun for this year only just got started.
Why does the second paragraph of the Release reference Princeton Borough? Is this a typo, or if not, what does Princeton have to do with this?