Around 2013, I began requesting the borough’s monthly
bills and posting them on-line to provide some transparency. Immediately, I saw questionable expenses with
drug alliance funds. Among them:
-
· Councilwoman Licata’s son was being paid thousands of dollars in “consulting fees”.
-
· Drug alliance funds were used to purchase software for the Lodi guidance department from a company that was paying Jamie Ciofalo (head of guidance at the time). The Lodi BOE’s budget was large enough to purchase the software.
For months, I questioned the mayor and council about
these expenses. I felt that drug
alliance funds should have been spent on programs benefiting the youth and
combating drug and alcohol abuse. Marc
Schrieks and the council claimed that they could not provide the answers (even
though they were approving the bills and paying them with public funds). They told me that Mike Nardino was
responsible for the Lodi Municipal Alliance and its funding. I would have to wait for him to attend a
meeting and answer my questions.
On October 21, 2014, Mike Nardino finally attended meeting. I asked the following questions word for
word. The only responses I received are
in red. If there is no red, Nardino did
not answer the question. Mike Nardino stated
the following at that night’s meeting “I wasn't prepared for this
scrutiny tonight. If Mr. Curioni wants answers, he will have to come to
my office."
Schrieks
and Nardino were violating all state statutes and requirements pertaining to
Municipal Alliances (public funds). I
posted some of the obvious violations on January 1, 2015:
Here are just a few violations:
1) Mike Nardino stated at a meeting that they don’t have minutes. Joe Licata claimed the same with the above OPRA response.
Violation: “MACs must operate in full
compliance with the State’s open public meetings laws. There must be public notice of MAC meetings. Minutes must be kept of
all Committee meetings,
and a quorum of Committee members is required for action to be taken by the
Committee (e.g., approval of plan or modifications). A quorum is 50 percent of
the official Committee membership plus one.”
2) The Lodi Mayor and Council claim that they don’t know who is on the committee. Mike Nardino couldn’t name who is currently on the committee either.
The Mayor and Council have not
appointed anyone to the MAC (according to their own meeting minutes or anyone
in attendance at council meetings).
Violation: “For participation in the Alliance Network
to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the governing body of a
municipality must appoint a Municipal Alliance Committee (MAC), or join with
one or more municipalities to form an Alliance consortium to which they appoint
municipal representatives.
3) #5 of the Above OPRA request: “A copy of any municipal ordinance or resolution establishing its Municipal Alliance Committee (MAC)."
The Borough’s response is an old
Resolution from 1990:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/251422094/Drug-Alliance-Resolution
https://www.scribd.com/doc/251422094/Drug-Alliance-Resolution
Violation: “MACs must be established by municipal
ordinance or resolution, and the committee must adopt bylaws. If a municipality chooses to use resolutions they must be adopted
annually in order to be in effect.”
4) Have Joe Licata and Jaime Ciofalo recused themselves when their conduct resulted in financial game?
Who knows? They don’t keep minutes and nobody knows if
any meetings even took place? Nobody
knows who is even on the committee
Violation: “A conflict of interest may
exist if a MAC member can reasonably expect that their conduct will directly
result in a personal or financial benefit to themselves, their family members,
business associates, employers, or to businesses that the member represents.
In situations where a conflict of interest may exist, the MAC member must
recuse him or herself. Recusal means that the individual is not participating
in deliberations or debates, making recommendations, giving advice, considering
findings, voting or in any other way assuming responsibility for or
participating in any aspect of the decision making regarding the matter.
Consultants or providers who are directly or indirectly involved in providing
prevention services to the Municipal Alliance are also subject to the recusal
requirement.”
5) Joe Licata is claiming in the OPRA response that no financial reports were completed by him for the 2014 Calendar Year.
Violation: The Alliance Coordinator is responsible for the administrative duties
of the of the Alliance such as completing required reports and applications for
alliance funding, scheduling consults and providing support to the Municipal
Alliance Committee (a Municipal Alliance Coordinator job description is on file
in the municipality).
All
of the above quotes were taken directly from here:
For a very long time, Schrieks and the council battled
with me and refused to address their violations. They knew I was right. In the end, they were forced to change
things. They discussed their changes upstairs in Tony Luna's office and refused to discuss them at regular council meetings:
By 2016, Nardino, Ciofalo, and Licata were no longer
listed as members of the alliance:
