Sayreville scrutinizes multimillion dollar development board in wake of corruption charges

SAYREVILLE – In light of the arrest of the former Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Agency's Commissioner Thomas Pollando on corruption charges, the Borough Council is taking a fresh look at the agency which oversees millions of dollars of projects, including Riverton which officials call the biggest redevelopment project in the United States.

That review includes a new ordinance that requires agency members to be Sayreville residents, governs how members are appointed and requires members to take a course in land use law.

In addition, the Borough Council has hired a forensic accountant to perform a comprehensive review of the agency known as SERA.

SERA plays an important role in the borough's economy by overseeing projects that generate both jobs and revenues to stabilize or reduce property taxes.

Under state law, the agency oversees redevelopment projects in the borough, with the power to acquire land through condemnation and issue redevelopment bonds to contracting with consultants and other professionals to carry out redevelopment projects.

At the Sept. 11 Borough Council meeting, Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick called for the appointment of Paula Duffy to SERA, whom she hoped would take over the seat of then-Chairman Michael D'Addio, who had moved out of town. In addition, D'Addio's appointment to SERA expired in July.

"He's in a holdover position," Kilpatrick said. "His term's done. He needs to go." Duffy's appointment was approved after the mayor broke a tie vote on the Council.

"To me it seemed like a no-brainer that the agency members be residents," Councilman Dan Balka, who introduced the ordinance, later said. "The projects that are brought to the agency can have a huge impact on the town, who better than residents of the town to be involved in them. I was kind of surprised that it wasn't part of the ordinance already."

Local: Sayreville inches closer to solving high school parking issue

At the Sept. 28 SERA meeting, Duffy was sworn in as a SERA commissioner. Kevin Dalina was elected to replace D'Addio as chairman.

Under the new ordinance, the terms of the nine members of SERA will be staggered.

“The ordinance will synchronize the terms of SERA commissioners with those of the mayor and council,” Balka said. “This way when you have a new mayor or council members in January, they will be appointing SERA commissioners along with all the other appointments they make in January, instead of waiting until July."

The new ordinance also requires that all non-elected members complete basic educational courses, which will be selected by the borough attorney, in order to retain their membership on SERA.

The five-hour educational course must be completed within one year of appointment and be related to land use law and planning or other topics that touch upon SERA's responsibilities.

The Borough Council appointed a forensic accountant to review the activities of SERA for a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022 for a fee not to exceed $25,000.

The investigation may also extend to other municipal boards where Pollando had dealings, including recreation, where he served as president of the Sayreville Athletic Association.

Earlier this year Pollando was indicted on three counts of bribery, acceptance of an unlawful benefit by a public official, official misconduct and pattern of official misconduct, all second-degree offenses, as well as hindering his own apprehension, theft by deception and falsifying public records, third-degree offenses.

The charges stem from an investigation last year in which Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office detectives were conducting electronic surveillance of a business in Sayreville and allegedly observed Pollando accept several thousands of dollars in cash and allegedly heard him claiming that he would attempt to use his political clout to influence an ongoing criminal case.

Pollando is charged with accepting money in exchange for recommending that zoning or municipal codes not be enforced at Club 35 in Sayreville, though he knew the strip club was in violation. He also is charged with giving police false information and theft by deception counts for allegedly using a check drawn on the election fund of former Sayreville Democratic Councilman Damon Enriquez for Pollando's personal use, and falsifying public records by directing an election finance record be falsified.

Shortly after being charged last year Pollando resigned as chairman of the Sayreville Democratic Party, as well as from positions on the Middlesex County Planning Board, the Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Authority and from his job with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

In late July Kilpatrick said that when Pollando was arrested, she immediately called for an investigation, including a financial audit of not just the redevelopment agency where Pollando was a commissioner for a number of years.

"For the protection of our borough, our residents and the projects that are going on, we need to have somebody come in to look at anything he handled or touched or was involved in to make sure it was done on the up and up and appropriately," she said.

Pollando's next appearance in Superior Court is scheduled for late November. The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office has offered Pollando a plea agreement in the case.

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Sayreville NJ Economic and Redevelopment Agency scrutinized