Sussex County commissioners censure fellow member on 4 issues. Here are the details

Sussex County commissioners showed no love on Valentine's Day, voting 4-0 to censure one of its members, Bill Hayden.

Hayden, who is in his first term as commissioner, was not present for the formal meeting Wednesday. As described by two members of the five-member board: "He was here, ate his McDonald's, then walked out."

The issue, which likely has not reached its peak, has been simmering within the board with occasional public flashes for several months. Commissioner Chris Carney, who served as director last year, said, "He just shows up. He's brought nothing to the table except to cause havoc."

The formal motion was brought before the four members who sat in the public session by current director, Jill Space, who introduced the resolution under "new business."

Among the "whereas" clauses in the resolution is the statement, "Commissioner Hayden has violated the trust of the citizens of Sussex County by and through his harassing, inflammatory, spurious, surreptitious, and other calculated actions and inactions."

The resolution then lists four specific accusations, including his failure to alert law enforcement about "threats of physical violence against other elected officials and their family while surreptitiously discussing same with others."

That refers to a tape recording of a conversation which included Hayden and in which a threat was made to "shoot up" the home of a fellow commissioner.

A second accusation is that Hayden engaged in a relationship "with a subordinate employee while an elected official of Sussex County" which opens the county up to "claims of workplace misconduct, retaliation, hostile work environment and sexual harassment."

Cause No. 3 is that he has discussed "privileged executive session content (of commissioner meetings) in violation of his oath of office" and cause No. 4 is that he disseminated "false and misleading information" about the county's food pantry program including the "weekend bag program," which provides food and other necessary items through school districts in Sussex County for students of need.

In a written response Thursday afternoon, Hayden said he left before the meeting because of an "emergency health issue." He then accused the board of censuring him "without any prior notice, no opportunity to respond or see any evidence of their allegations or reasons for their actions."

He said the censure "was another attempt to retaliate against me by various political figures in Sussex County to besmirch me, silence me and punish me for turning over several potential unlawful acts to both the United States Attorney and NJ Attorney General."

He also blamed "a whisper campaign” meant to "smear me personally and discredit me and anything I do or say."

The response was prepared with the assistance of his attorney Robert Kovic, who is also the executive director of the Sussex County GOP.

Censure, such as what was approved by the commissioners, is the formal statement of disapproval in the form of a resolution. Censure is not a form of punishment nor removal from office. It is simply the list of reasons for disapproval.

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The resolution approved by the commissioners says the members "express our grave concern" as to the actions of Hayden and "call upon Commissioner Hayden to make amends to the Board." What those "amends" could entail are not listed.

Hayden is in his second year of his first, three-year term as county commissioner. A Frankford resident, he is employed by the state Department of Transportation as a region north permit supervisor, a position which reviews plans and other documents and issues state permits for utility companies. Part of that job is to deal with constituent issues for the DOT.

The censure resolution is the first in recent memory for the any municipal government in Sussex County.

In addition to Space and Carney, voting yes on the resolution were commissioners Jack DeGroot, who is in just his second month of office and Ed Schick, who was at his first meeting as commissioner.

The issue with the county food pantry came up late last year when a political consultant made accusations, picked up by Hayden - who was his client - that as much as $3.5 million was "missing" from the county-supported warehouse operation.

Located in Newton, the food pantry is operated by volunteers and provides supplies to other food pantries within the county.

A major donor to the program has provided a credit card to the pantry which is used to order food, usually from a major grocery chain. Those supplies are delivered to the pantry by that grocer. The same donor also orders food for other locations which often are on the same truck which makes deliveries to the county. Sometimes those other orders go to a house in New York state supposedly owned by the donor.

Late last year, Hayden, saying he was relying on a "whistleblower" within county government, and amplified by a political columnist, said that was evidence of money being "missing."

Both Carney and the board's attorney Doug Steinhardt, said at a board meeting in late that they went through the receipts and found no money was "missing," and transactions were appropriate.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Sussex County NJ commissioners censure fellow member