'Fuel on the fire' in Dover: Mayor accused of escalating conflict with police chief

DOVER — It was Round 2 in the tiff between Mayor James Dodd and supporters of Police Chief Jonathan Delaney.

A delegation of police officers helped to pack council chambers Tuesday night, after the mayor took disciplinary action against the chief for his actions at the last council meeting. That prior session, on Feb. 13, ended with a tense exchange among Delaney, Dodd and Councilman Sergio Rodriguez, who was charged with assault this month and in turn criticized the police department.

Tuesday's meeting brought a further escalation of tensions, as Dodd and Council member Karol Ruiz clashed over a proposal that Ruiz charged was another attempt to retaliate against Delaney.

At issue was a resolution to remove Delaney as police custodian of records and return that responsibility to the town clerk. Dodd argued that municipal clerks commonly handle such duties, including the processing of Open Public Records Act requests, also known as OPRAs. Dover's clerk had handled those tasks, Mayor Dodd said, until former mayor Carolyn Blackman turned them over to the police department four years ago.

Dodd and Delaney dispute resumes

"This is in no way, shape or form against our police department," Dodd said. "We're not here to take away authority from the police department. You are not trained in OPRA and document release to the public."

The ultimate legal responsibility for OPRA requests falls on the clerk, who can be sued for violations, Dodd said. In Dover's case, that puts the onus on Municipal Clerk Tara Pettoni. She served as clerk during Dodd's previous mayoral administrations, resigned when he left office in 2020 and returned when he regained the post this January.

"I honestly feel for her concern," Dodd said. "How can these documents go out to the public when [she doesn't] have the opportunity to approve it?"

Ruiz, however, wasn't buying Dodd's explanation.

Oversight of police records at issue

"The [New Jersey] League of Municipalities showed us it's a common practice for the chief law enforcement officer to serve as custodian for police records and for the clerk to serve as custodian for government records," said Ruiz. "There is no good reason for changing the custodian of police records now, especially now."

"I'm going to name the elephant in the room," she continued. "We are meeting today with a room full of police officers from throughout our state, with state and local news. Why? Because at the last meeting, something happened. Something has been happening. So it is nefarious and disingenuous to tell our community that we're just worried about poor little Tara Pettoni's license."

Her last comment drew gasps from the gallery and enraged Dodd, who said "You've got a lot of nerve, Ms. Ruiz. You no longer have the floor. That was inappropriate. I don't think that was fair and you just made a big mistake."

Town attorney Ramon Rivera stepped in to state OPRA does not separate police and government records and "it is not common in my practice for almost 25 years that a municipality of this size would have a custodian of records in the police department."

Ruiz later apologized to Pettoni, saying "I was frustrated with the disingenuity of the council, not with you."

'Throws fuel on the fire'

Police in the gallery did not speak during the public comment period, but Councilmember Michael Scarneo urged Dodd to table the resolution. Scarneo said he needed more time to study the matter and discuss it with Delaney.

"I don't think at this current time that we should be doing anything with the police department that could be construed as us trying to meddle in police department affairs," Scarneo said. "I don't see any reason for us to be jumping into something that I don't see is causing us a problem, that is going to increase the friction and issues we have with the police department.

"This just throws fuel on the fire," he said.

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Council member Sandra Wittner also questioned the resolution and clarified that Delaney had access to the town OPRA directors and appeared capable of handling OPRA requests. "I am quite certain the police know how to redact their own records," she said.

The council eventually voted down a motion to table the resolution, which then passed as Ruiz, Scarneo and Wittner voted "no" while Rodriguez and Marcos Tapia abstained.

Councilman faced assault charge

Rodriguez helped to stir up the conflict between the town administration and police by posting a series of social media videos in which he confronted men who he said were drinking in public. One video, in which he clashed with three homeless men on Blackwell Street, resulted in police charging him with simple assault for kicking a bottle out of one man's hand.

Rodriguez later made a public apology − but only after more social media posts and statements at the previous council meeting in which he seemed to suggest the police weren't doing enough about public drunkenness.

Dover has "a harassment and public intoxication problem," he said at the end of the Feb. 13 council meeting.

Addressing Delaney, who was in the audience that night, Rodriguez said, "I like you, I personally like you and I want the best for our police department. I want the people around this town to respect our police. I don't want them saying 'Hey, Dover, we can do whatever we want there.' Because let's face it, that's what's being said. And I don't like it."

Delaney then stood and spoke up, saying "We have some of the hardest-working officers in the state of New Jersey, if not the nation. They have families, too."

Disciplinary warning against police chief

Dodd later issued a letter announcing disciplinary measures against Delaney for speaking out of turn at the meeting and barring him from confronting council members.

Delaney's personal attorney, meanwhile, has sent two "cease and desist" letters to the town in recent weeks, warning that the chief was considering a lawsuit against local officials for their allegedly "punitive conduct" against him. The latest letter said Delaney was being punished for "some phantom violation of public meeting rules."

"Your continued attempts to undermine the chief will not be tolerated," Delaney's attorney wrote to Dodd.

Police in the overflow gallery on Tuesday night did not speak, but the Dover Policemen's Benevolent Association, in a Feb. 19 letter to Dodd, supported Delaney. The union said the chief had increased department morale despite Dover's "long and sordid history of managerial malfeasance."

"We hereby call on the governing body of Dover and residents of Dover to do whatever is necessary to allow Chief Delaney to do his job without political interference," the PBA concluded.

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Dover NJ mayor accused of escalating conflict with police chief