Abuse of Power
- Last
summer, the Lodi mayor and council passed a bamboo ordinance after receiving
only one complaint- from the Licatas.
- Borough
Manager Vincent Caruso had Alan Spiniello draft the ordinance without anyone
from the Borough ever inspecting the property in question. He was clearly doing a favor for the
councilwoman. He was negligent of his
responsibilities by not properly researching the matter. He was not forthcoming when he spoke to the
Record reporter about the bamboo ordinance.
-
Patty Licata abstained on the ordinance.
By doing so, she showed her conflict of interest. Contradicting her abstention, emails show
that she was behind the ordinance and did NOT recuse herself from the
process. Instead, she inserted herself
into the process. She took official
action on a public matter in which she has a conflict of interest.
Click on the link below to read the emails
between Vincent Caruso and Frank Licata:
Vincent Caruso: I decided against sending someone to the property to speak to the owner once we knew the ordinance was going to be introduced. Since right now, this is the only location that we are aware of with a bamboo problem, and that you are related to a council member, I did not want there to be any allegations or inferences that the ordinance was passed specifically because of your property as a result of speaking with that resident.
This appeared on northjersey.com one year
ago:
“Although Lodi is only dealing with
one property owner when it comes to bamboo, Caruso said he is aware of issues
in other towns, and the borough needs to be proactive. Caruso would not reveal where the bamboo
was planted in Lodi.”
Link to
article that appeared on northjersey.com on June 21, 2017:
Below is some correspondence between
Councilwoman Licata and Vincent Caruso.
They redacted the part that Caruso sent to Spiniello.
Link to two posts bout the subject from
last summer:
