February 5, 2005 April In Deep.html

Ocean County Politics, Barnaget Light

Ocean County Politics .com

Ethical Practices Statute Reads Like It Was Written Especially For The April Yezzi DMUA Conflict: Her Husband, No-Bid Pay-To-Play Architect Massimo Yezzi, Got $157,000 From The OCUA, But DMUA Commissioner April Yezzi Never Even Made A Public Disclosure

Why Didn't DMUA Attorney James Gluck Blow The Whistle?

The Code Of Ethics statute that governs ethical behavior of government officers and employees reads like it was written to prohibit situations like the April Yezzi DMUA conflict of interest.

Statute 40:A:9-22.5a says: “No local government officer or employee or member of his immediate family shall have an interest in a business organization or engage in any business, transaction, or professional activity, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest.

April Yezzi DMUA Appointment Goes Forward Without
Disclosure On $157,000 Her Husband Got From OCUA

Dover Municipal Utilities Authority commissioner April Yezzi allowed her appointment to the DMUA to go forward without telling anybody that her husband, Architect Massimo Yezzi, was being paid $157,000 by the Ocean County Utilities Authority.

There were seven payments made to Yezzi Associates during 2004 while April Yezzi was a DMUA commissioner. The last payment in the $157,000 was made July 31, 2004.

No Conflict-Of-Interest Declaration From April Yezzi

The DMUA voted twice during this seven month period of 2004 to make quarterly OCUA payments which average $2.8 million, but April Yezzi never said a word about the apparent $157,000 conflict.

The DMUA has had numerous disputes with the OCUA which it pays more than $10.5 million in sewerage treatment charges each year.

The DMUA paid the OCUA nearly $11 million total in 2004, but Mrs. Yezzi sat there at the meetings and never made even the most basic disclosure of her interest in the $157,000 her husband received from the county authority.

Why didn't DMUA attorney James Gluck blow the whistle on the Yezzi situation? Maybe because he's part of the good old boy network that produced the problem in the first place.

This article prepared for publication January 28, 2005.