January 17, 2005 Yezzi CoverUp II.html

Ocean County Politics .com

Video Tape Surfaces Of July Meeting Where Massimo Yezzi Misrepresented DMUA Finances, But Never Disclosed $157,000 In OCUA Payoffs

"Commissioner" April Yezzi Sat There, Never Disqualified Herself, Never Disclosed Yezzi Payments By Regional Sewer Agency That Charges DMUA Nearly $11,000,000 Annually

Functional Result Was To Continue OCUA Overcharge Cover-Ups That Could Be As Much As $20 Million Over 15 Years, And Possible Conflicts Involving The Clements, Citta & Holzapfel

River City: Video tapes have surfaced from the July, 2004 DMUA meeting which clearly show Architect Massimo Yezzi accusing DMUA Chairman Robert K. Haelig Jr. of "insulting" him after Yezzi tried to misrepresent the status and function of DMUA reserves.

Yezzi's Accusation Came Five Days Before OCUA
$157,000 Payments To Him Were Concluded

The July appearance by Yezzi came just five days before Yezzi received the final installment in $157,000 in "architectural fees" from the Ocean County Utilities Authority, which is paid nearly $11,000,000 every year by the DMUA.

April Sat There And Never Made Disclosure Of $157,000 In OCUA Payments To Her Husband

Yezzi never disclosed the OCUA payments, and his wife, Dover Municipal Utilities Authority Alternate Commissioner April Yezzi, sat there without disclosing her potential conflict-of-interest regarding the Yezzi OCUA transactions.

OCUA Overcharges May Have Neared $30 Million, But DMUA Republican Club Flunkies Paid THEM $2.8 Million Over Haelig's Protest

Yezzi's dissimulation on DMUA finances, which came during the meeting's public session, was apparently intended to continue the cover-up on a dispute settlement with the OCUA in 2003 where the DMUA paid the county authority nearly $3 million.

The settlement was negotiated by stooge commissioners in office at the time, despite numbers produced by Haelig that showed the OCUA may have overcharged the DMUA by between $6 million and $20 million in a fifteen year period between 1986 and 2000.

John Broome

Haelig was the only commissioner to oppose the OCUA "settlement" after pointing out that Executive Director John Broome had put the possible OCUA overcharge obligation at $30 million, which would have indicated a possible DMUA overpayment of nearly $33 million.

Drained DMUA Reserves By $13 Million

The OCUA "settlement" and numerous other questionable decisions by the current DMUA management, where Haelig is often the only dissenter, have drained more than $13 million from DMUA reserves in three years, and produced four consecutive operating deficits.

The DMUA operating deficit for 2005 is estimated at $5.3 million, the largest single-year operating deficit for a local sewer authority in Ocean County history.

Nobody Knew About $157,000 In OCUA Yezzi Payments, But Commissioners Passed Gag Motion At October Meeting

No one at the July meeting except the Yezzi's was aware of the OCUA $157,000 Yezzi payments, which surfaced prior to the October DMUA meeting where Chairman Haelig tried to put the payments on the record for obvious accountability reasons.

But four other commissioners, all appointed under the auspices of Boss Richard Clement and the local Republican Club, ruled Haelig out of order in the only gag motion ever passed at the DMUA.

Haelig Told Yezzi His "Information Is Wrong"

Commissioner Robert Haelig Gagged For Doing His Job

Haelig told Yezzi in July that the "premise for your questions and assumptions about DMUA reserves are wrong" and patiently explained the reserves were needed to produce investment income to keep the annual sewer rate at $225.

But Yezzi continued to accuse Haelig of "insulting" him, and the latent OCUA cover-up did not become clear until the information on the $157,000 Yezzi transactions was exposed in October, and then suppressed by the gag motion.

Boss Clement

Other DMUA Conflict Cover-Ups?

The Yezzi cover-up augments other possible cover-ups at the DMUA involving Boss Clement, his wife, commissioner Deborah Clement and several well placed lawyers and real estate interests.

Boss Clement has been a $6000 fixture on the "staff" of Republican Assemblyman James Holzapfel, a partner in the law firm of Citta, Holzapfel and Zabarski.

The Citta's are associated with numerous real estate interests, among which are Home Depot and JAMM Realty properties targeted by Dover Township as possible open space acquisitions.

Let's Go To The Video Tape

Click Here To July DMUA Meeting VIDEO: Yezzi Takes OCUA Spin On DMUA Finances Without Mentioning $157,000 Payments - April Never Discloses

Click Here For Previous Article: Yezzi Cover-Up Part I

This article prepared for publication January 17, 2005.

Stay tuned for more on a variety of potential Yezzi Conflicts, including Yezzi's threats to file legal actions in retaliation for the disclosure of the OCUA payments which may have also put his wife, April, in a potentially serious conflict regarding both the DMUA and her position as an employee (or former employee) of Ocean County.