Taking Care Of Friends, Family And Themselves Is Nothing New For Two Ocean County Freeholders

Commentary

by Patricia A. Miller

Many were outraged by Freeholder John P. Kelly’s recent attempt to hire a relative by marriage for his newly-created position of ”Division Director” for the Ocean County Corrections Department.

But it’s helping out friends, family and sometimes themselves is really nothing new for Jack Kelly or Freeholder James F. Lacey.

Back in the 1990s, Robert Coughlin - the former director of the Ocean County Juvenile Shelter - announced he was retiring. Kelly quickly stepped into the breach for a buddy on the Eagleswood Township Committee.

He pushed for Kenneth Holman to take over Coughlin’s job. Holman had just been downsized from a utility company. No worries. Holman was appointed to the job, despite the fact he had no experience running a juvenile facility.

When Holman was asked what experience he had working with children, he replied, ”Well, I have three.”

Fast forward a few years. Kelly is appointed an ”airport analyst” at the Atlantic City Airport, despite the fact he had no aviation experience and didn’t go to college. He graciously turned down medical benefits at his new job, since he already had a nice benefits package at his freeholder job. He was paid a stipend for turning down the airport benefits.

Back in the 1990s, the Ocean County Board of Social Services began laying off workers. Enter Freeholder James F. Lacey, who tried to get one of his wife’s relatives by marriage a $70,000 job at the board.

This didn’t sit well with board workers. They hired a bagpiper, fashioned a makeshift coffin and filled it with the names of the people who had lost their jobs. They paraded around the Board of Social Services building on Hooper Avenue while the board was meeting inside.

Needless to say, the Lacey relative didn’t get the job.

Lacey had one of those cushy ”ombudsman” jobs at the state Department of Environmental Protection back in the 1990s. But he lost it when Democrat Jon Corzine won the gubernatorial election.

Not to worry. The Ocean County Republican organization quickly stepped up to take care of him.

The Republican administration in Beachwood created an administrator’s position and paid Lacey $114,00 to preside as a top, non-elected official in a small town with less than 10,000 residents. A few years later, the political winds shifted in Beachwood and Lacey was again out of a job.

But not for long.

Within a short time, Lacey was appointed as executive director of the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, for $135,000, despite the fact that he had no experience in running a water or sewer utility. He told the media he had always been ”fascinated” by water.

His contract even contained a provision that Lacey be given 10 hours a week to take care of his freeholder duties.

Kelly’s efforts to create a job for Michael Fromosky failed in the end. It turned out that he forgot to tell the other four freeholders there was a familial relationship. Fromosky has already started as a ”code enforcement trainee” in Little Egg Harbor at a starting salary of $55,000.