Despite controversy, council approves commissioner

Despite controversy, council approves commissioner
Attorney’s report finds conflict of interest
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — After sitting through questioning by members of the public, the City Council approved a controversial resolution reappointing a commissioner to the Long Branch Sewerage Authority last week.

The appointment of John Brockriede was on the agenda for the Jan. 26 council meeting but was tabled when members of the public brought up a possible conflict of interest in the appointment, based on the fact that Brockriede and members of the administration are involved with Central Jersey Bank N.A.

Central Jersey Bank is a subsidiary of Central Jersey Bancorp, a bank holding company headquartered in Ocean Township.

Brockriede and City Attorney James Aaron are members of the bank’s board of directors. Councilman Anthony Giordano III is the bank’s senior executive vice president, CFO/treasurer and assistant secretary. Councilman David Brown works part time at the bank and Councilman Michael DeStefano is a shareholder.

Aaron decided at the Jan. 26 meeting to table the appointment and have the city hire a conflict attorney to look into whether the council should vote on Brockriede’s appointment.

“When the issue first came up, I said, ‘Hold up, there is an issue here,’ ” Aaron said at the March 9 meeting. ‘I think I should excuse myself from this matter.’ ”

“I then went to Mr. [Howard] Woolley [business administrator] and advised him that I believe that there would be an appearance of an impropriety if I had anything to do with making a ruling.”

However, at the March 9 meeting, the council passed the resolution reappointing Brockriede with a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Brian Unger casting the dissenting vote.

After the January meeting the city hired Red Bank attorney Michael Dupont, of McKenna Dupont Higgins & Stone, as the conflict attorney.

Aaron said Dupont found that while there is a conflict, the council is still allowed to vote on the appointment.

“My understanding is there is precedential case law that even if an entire body is conflicted, the courts have ruled that they could vote on the issue,” he said. “The issue would be whether or not that vote is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.”

Resident Diana Multare, who initially questioned the appointment in January, faulted the finding.

“In other words even though most of the members of council have an alleged conflict of interest, go ahead with it because you need a quorum,” she said. “If we had a local ethics board in place, you wouldn’t have to have a conflict attorney.”

Another resident questioned the case law cited.

“There could be argument made that the conflict was an incurable, inescapable conflict,” John Gregory said. “There is also supporting case law that says that the vote can’t be made.”

Before casting his vote against the appointment, Unger read a line from the report Dupont submitted.

“In this particular instance there appears to be a conflict with all the members of the council excluding one Mr. Unger,” he said.

Councilwoman Mary Jane Celli took issue with the report.

“The conflict attorney indicated that there was only one person on the council that did not have a conflict. I take exception to that,” she said. “I do not have any stock, I do not work there and I do not have a conflict.”

DeStefano gave background on the Brockriede appointment, saying there had never been an issue previously.

“Mr. Brockriede has served on this board for 10 years,” he said. “He has been appointed by this council before under the same circumstances.

“Go look at his service to see if he’s done anything to harm the city.”

DeStefano also gave some background on how the council usually makes appointments to boards and commissions.

“What we usually do is solicit people in the community that are interested,” he said. “We look at résumés to see whether or not people have the ability to serve, and then we make appointments.”

However, DeStefano went on to say that when a tenured member is up for reappointment, the council generally does not look for replacements.

“Typically when a member is up for reappointment that has served for any length of time, we reappoint them,” he said. “It is hard to get members of the boards to begin with, especially knowledgeable people.”

One resident criticized Mayor Adam Schneider, saying he is also in conflict with the appointment

“Your recent representation, Mayor Schneider, of John Brockriede, of his mortgage refinance of a vacant lot along Route 35, should be sufficient for this council,” Vincent Lepore said, while submitting the filings for public record. “Your name appears on recent public filings.”

Schneider defended the appointment and also claimed that the term conflict was being misrepresented.

“The boards aren’t easy to fill; not that many people are interested,” he said. “I’ve known him for 17 or 18 years.

“He owns a lot of property, but pays a lot in sewage bills. This is nonsense about conflict of interest. I hear it bandied about but no one says what it would legally be.”

Unger agreed with Schneider’s comments about Brockriede but at the same time disagreed that there isn’t a conflict.

“I think Adam made very nonobjectionable, positive remarks about Mr. Brockriede, and I endorse those remarks,” he said. “He has served on so many boards and commissions and has been active in the city.

“I personally endorse him, but I have to go with my gut and my interpretation, and I think this council is in a conflict.”

Brown explained that his position with the bank does not make for a conflict.

“As an employee part time, I don’t answer to Mr. Brockriede,” he said. “I don’t answer to the board, I don’t answer to the president of the bank.

“I have a supervisor, and that’s the extent. I work four hours a day and go home. I also own stock, but I don’t see that being a conflict.

“My stock in the bank does not allow me to dictate anything,” he continued. “My stock is less than 1 percent of 1 percent.

Resident Harold Cooper questioned whether, because of the controversy, the council should pick another appointee, but DeStefano disagreed.

“Wouldn’t it be much better to just pick another person?” Cooper asked.

“No, because he has continuity and he is a valuable member of the board,” DeStefano responded, adding that the only reason the appointment is being challenged is because of the upcoming May municipal election.

“If it weren’t for the campaign Mr. Brockriede wouldn’t be an issue,” he said. “There was no concern about his appointment initially and there was no concern about his subsequent reappointment.

“Stop making this a campaign issue,” he added. “This is about stalling an appointment.

“Well, it’s this council’s job to get this done.”

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.


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