Former mayor cleared of ethics violation charge
Board finds Miscoski did not break law during vote related to family property
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD — An issue concerning a long-ago vote for open space funding, reviewed by both the state Department of Community Affairs and the Office of Administrative Law, may have finally been resolved.

When former Mayor William Miscoski recently received word that the Department of Community Affairs Local Finance Board (LFB) reversed a 2007 decision that he violated local government ethics law concerning the vote regarding open space properties in 2002, he said he was elated to prove longtime opponents Chris Berzinski and his wife, Sue Kozel, wrong. Miscoski was fined $500 last year for the violation, but filed an appeal.

The matter first went before the LFB when Berzinski and Kozel filed a September 2002 complaint alleging that Miscoski had a conflict of interest when he voted to approve a bond ordinance to fund open space purchases, including a 51-acre parcel owned by his mother and business partner, Ellen Miscoski. The board determined on Dec. 8, 2004, that Miscoski violated a state statute prohibiting local government officers or employees from acting in an official capacity in any matter where they or a member of their immediate family or business organization has a direct or indirect financial or personal involvement that might reasonably impair their objectivity or independence of judgment. Miscoski appealed, and the board transmitted the matter to the Office of Administrative Law, which heard the case on Jan. 17, 2006. The office concluded on Feb. 24, 2006, that the action Miscoski took was for the benefit of the entire township and consistent with its pre-existing, established master plan and therefore not a violation of the ethics code. The office partly based its recommended decision on Miscoski's testimony that the list he voted on contained all of the township's farmland assessed properties.

On May 10, 2006, the board determined to reject the office's recommended decision partly upon review of additional documents that showed the number of farmland assessed properties at the time of the vote was 543 and not the 93 Miscoski testified to in the previous hearing. The board upheld its previous decision and the $500 fine on March 29, 2007, and Miscoski again appealed.

In July, the LFB decided to reverse the decision that Miscoski violated N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.5(d) when he voted on a township ordinance to provide funds to purchase open space, which included a property owned by his mother and business partner, because the board failed to show a disqualifying interest based on credible evidence in the record.

"It was a long, hard fight, but I knew I was right from the very beginning, and knew it was the best thing for Upper Freehold," said Miscoski.

Miscoski added that the land he was accused of having a conflict of interest over is now owned by the township and will become a township park where no houses can be built. The property was purchased by the township in May 2006 and will eventually be used for recreational fields.

Berzinski had no comment on the decision. He and Kozel have no plans to take the matter any further, according to Berzinski.

The Examiner account of the Sept. 18, 2002, meeting noted that the ordinance appropriated $2 million for outdoor recreation and conservation and authorized the issuance of $950,000 in bonds or notes for the township to finance part of the cost. Four votes were required to ensure the funding mechanism for the matching grant for open space. Due to a family emergency, then-Mayor David Horsnall left the meeting in question early.

During that meeting, Kozel said there were "controversial pieces" on the list. Township Clerk Barbara Bascom told Kozel that two nonprofit groups, the Monmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF) and D&R Greenways, put the list together.

Township Attorney Granville Magee told Kozel, "The town entered one-and-ahalf months ago into an agreement with Green Acres. We must match funding with them."

During the meeting in question, the Township Business Administrator told Kozel, "Adopting a bond ordinance tonight is not purchasing anybody's property; it's giving assurance that Green Acres has $1 million set aside for Upper Freehold Township."

Miscoski has said there would have been no financial gain to him or his mother as a result of the vote in question. He said his mother could have received more money for her property from a developer than from open space funds.