Rockaway Township residents seeks Attorney General to step in to investigate misconduct
A plea to the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey
The New Jersey Attorney General has announced the creation the new office of Public Integrity and Accountability, to be led by Thomas Eicher. The residents of Rockaway Township are calling on Attorney General Grewal and Mr. Eicher to please investigate the state of affairs in Rockaway Township. Since the death of Mayor Michael Dachisen on August 15, 2018, there has been a complete breakdown in the functioning of the municipality. There are so many conflicts and alliances behind the scenes, both political and personal, that we have nowhere to turn except for the State and we need your help.
We are in the midst of a Recall of our Council President Jeremy Jedynak and the toxic culture he has brought to the township. His actions are in the opinions of many, illegal and the depth of the misconduct vast.
Beginning in January 2018 his behavior as an elected official has failed the residents and has resulted in costly litigation, failure to follow the Open Public Meetings Act, wasteful spending on security and civil rights violations. To date over 50 residents have reached out to the agency with oversight on these matters; the Morris County Prosecutors Office pleading for assistance. All we really know is that a representative for their office takes our names and concerns and they infer an investigation is in process. Meanwhile, the illegal acts of Jedynak and his chosen council John Inglesino continue unabated.
On September 14th at 10:30pm a “Special” meeting was held at the Rockaway Township municipal building in violation of the Open Public Meeting Act. The meeting failed to have proper advanced notice, not all members of the public were able to view, hear or receive agenda, resolutions, ordinances, minutes or any routinely documents normally provided at an open public meeting. Access to the speaking list was limited and controlled by dozens of police officers. Business other than the urgent matter the “special” meeting was convened for was conducted. There were between 20 and 30 police officers called in at taxpayer’s expense and nearly a dozen residents were ejected from the meeting. The tone and tenor of the entire meeting was designed to intimidate and exclude the public.
History on the meeting of September 14, 2018:
The week of September 3 several members of the town council including Jeremy Jedynak, Patricia Abrahamsen and Tucker Kelley attempted to make arrangements for a larger venue for the council meeting to be held on September 13. While it would have made sense to hold such event in one of the 5 available schools, they reached out to a house of worship and asked for space. This request was originally granted. They however did not notify the public of this change in venue until September 10th, which was a Jewish Holiday. The public began to call the house of worship and ask why they were holding the meeting as people were not pleased with the change of venue. A statement was released by the Acting Council President Abrahamson that because a large “protest” that was expected at the meeting that the change of venue was necessary. There was however, no “protest” planned or coordinated, instead there were residents planning on attending an Open Public Meeting. The House of worship was placed in an untenable predicament and on the evening of September 12 (approximately 6pm). They notified the organizing council members that they would not host the meeting. At 10pm, the 3 organizing council members brought the town clerk to the municipal building and had her post on the bulletin board a notice that the meeting would now be moved to the municipal building as a “Special Meeting” on September 14 at 10:30pm, the Jewish Sabbath. The notice for the September 13th meeting was left in place on the bulletin board. They locked the doors and left the building. The next morning a member of the Council; Michael Puzio, received information that the meeting for that night was in question and that a second meeting with the same agenda as the one for the 13th was posted for the 14th at 10:30pm. Many residents called the town clerk on the day on the 13th to ask if there was to be a meeting the evening of the 13th, they were told yes. One resident went to town hall with a camera and recorded the police chief stating that, yes there was a meeting that night to begin at 7:30 at Christ Church, this information was provided as late as 3pm the 13th. At 5pm a Nixle alert was sent stating that the Christ Church venue and the meeting was in fact cancelled. There was no notice of the September 14th meeting in the newspaper on the 13th.
Why the urgency for the meeting?
In reality there was no urgent business to the functioning of the town, there was merely a political agenda. Mr. Jedynak wanted to take, what he believed to be his last day as Acting Mayor, to appoint a controversial attorney, edit the minutes of the January 2nd meeting to fit his needs, terminate the legally appointed town attorney and choose from the 3 names supplied by County Committee to be the Interim Mayor. In actuality if the meeting didn’t happen, the town Business Administrator would have taken the role of Acting Mayor and the County Committee could have appointed the Interim Mayor a few days later. However, significant issues have yet to be addressed. According to the rules applicable to the situation, due to the death of the Mayor on August 15 upon his death the seat was vacated, this serves as his day of departure. On August 15, Jedynak assumed the position of Acting Mayor, his term was 30 days. That term ended at Midnight September 13 and he was no longer the Mayor on September 14 when the illegal meeting took place.
Where are we now?
As of September 16, 2018 it is completely unclear if there is a named Interim Mayor, who the town attorney lawfully is and if the minutes from a meeting held in January, outlining the relationship with who we believe our current town attorney is, were altered and if so how?
Where is the misconduct and potential corruption?
While this is not a complete dossier on all the parties and actions related to the state of affairs, it will however show the areas of concern by many members of the community.
Jeremy Jedynak has systematically dismantled the Open Public Meeting Act throughout the entire year. He has violated the civil rights of residents repeatedly, he has accused town employees of crimes, he has permitted votes from the council when obvious conflicts are present, he has abused the power of his position demanding levels of security that are so far out of line it defies all logic, and he has demeaned, bullied and abused members of the administration in public meetings and abused the power granted him in nearly every meeting and throughout the year in his actions, inactions and refusal to reply to public questions.
Joint actions:
Jedynak and Abrahamson together have used their positions to improperly utilize the police department and contacts at the Morris County Prosecutors office to open investigations in residents of the township that are ridiculous and unnecessary. One such instance is with a cognitively challenged resident, who sent at an electronic message to his council representatives telling them they should not have left a meeting while in progress by sneaking out the back exit and should these actions occur again an old fashion sit in may result. Jedynak and Abrahamson demanded an investigation of over 7 false charges including NJSA 2C:13-2 NJSA 2C:33-4 NJSA 2C:33-4.4 NJSA 2C33-10. As Abrahamson is a former police officer and her husband and other relative are current police officers it is trouble they are using there relationships to bully the public. In addition, our currently county Sherriff supported the last campaign of Jedynak and Abrahamson. We fear that political and police alliances are taking precedent over rational behavior.
The residents of Rockaway Township need help from our State government as we are frozen due to political alliances that are serving personal agendas and not the tax paying citizens. We applaud the Attorney General for the creation of this new agency and we see first-hand why it was needed and how it can help the citizens who fall victim to this type of political activity. We are not Red we are not Blue we are just Citizens of New Jersey in need of YOUR help.
View the statement here:
