Ex-Hoboken City Director Alleges Ethics Issues For Bhalla Administration

HOBOKEN, NJ — One of Hoboken's top department directors — who served for 14 years before resigning abruptly in May 2023 — has filed a lawsuit against the city, making a number of accusations against the administration of Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

Leo Pellegrini had run the city's Environmental And Human Services Division since 2009 and helped steer the city through the covid pandemic and layoffs, until he resigned with no explanation a year ago.

Now, Pellegrini has filed a suit against the city, making allegations about various incidents that critics of Bhalla's administration had been hinting about — including claiming that the administration silences critics, and that officials used unfair influence to support a cannabis dispensary linked to Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's wife.

Pellegrini's lawsuit alleges that last spring, when former Mayor Dawn Zimmer thanked Pellegrini for his years of service, Bhalla was so incensed that he cursed at her. (Zimmer's husband has been criticizing Bhalla on Twitter for the past year; see story here.)

However, Bhalla's administration responded this week that the city is investigating actions taken by Pellegrini, and that the lawsuit is "littered with false claims...by a disgruntled former employee."

Last year, the City Council approved an $85,000 settlement with a contractor, saying Pellegrini didn't have proper authorization to award the contract. The city has also said that Pellegrini, whose duties included overseeing the recreation department, did not always follow proper procedure for giving contracts and field space to community programs and recreation sports vendors.

City spokeswoman Marilyn Baer said Thursday, of Pellegrini's suit, "The complaint, littered with false claims, is clearly written by a disgruntled former employee who resigned after being notified he was going to be terminated based upon an investigation, conducted by former state comptroller Matt Boxer, which found reasonable cause to believe the director engaged in unlawful and corrupt conduct in the course of his city employment. In fact, this matter was referred to and is being investigated by the FBI and we anticipate that law enforcement will be taking the appropriate action in the near future."

Menendez Jr. Weighs In

The allegations come at a politically precarious time for Bhalla.

He is running for Congress in the 8th District against sitting Congressman Rob Menendez Jr. Most of Bhalla's accusations against his opponent have related to the candidate's father, who faces bribery charges, rather than to Menendez Jr.'s record. The son has not been implicated in the multiple indictments.

Bhalla has presented himself, in campaign emails, as someone who fought corruption in Hoboken.

Thursday, Menendez Jr. sent out an email encouraging constituents to read the "Quid Pro Quoboken" lead story in Politico NJ from that morning.

Menendez and Bhalla, along with Jersey City resident Kyle Jasey, are vying for the Democratic nomination for the seat. The primary race is June 4.

Cannabis Conundrum

The city's approval process for cannabis dispensaries — now capped at six citywide — has raised eyebrows and caused some consternation.

Several City Council members said publicly in 2022 that they erroneously voted on a measure that allowed dispensaries in densely populated residential areas, without realizing it would have that effect.

One dispensary, Story Dispensary, is proposed for the busy intersection of 14th and Hudson streets. The storefront is owned by the wife of Mayor Steven Fulop and by her business partner, who co-hosted a Fulop fundraiser last year at which Bhalla was a special guest.

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, who has criticized Bhalla in the past, has spoken out about Story Dispensary, raising the possibility that lawmakers unfairly used their influence to favor the business.

Residents of the building at 14th and Hudson streets have said that they were initially led to believe that Jaclyn Fulop's physical therapy practice was going to open there, and were surprised to find out a dispensary was coming. They ended up filing suit, and recently settled. (See a story on the history of the controversy here).

Pellegrini's suit makes allegations related to the dispensary controversy.

He alleges that after Hoboken appeared to be heading toward approval of a different dispensary in that neighborhood, Bhalla got an angry call from Fulop, and the pair made a secret arrangement. This week, Fulop denied this series of events, in the Politico NJ story.

Pellegrini's suit also says that Bhalla's administration directed Pellegrini to keep Fisher and Councilwoman Jennifer Giattino out of the loop about certain issues. Pellegrini also said that certain officials were told to bring up issues only with two of the mayor's loyalists in City Hall, Business Administrator Jason Freeman and Chief of Staff Vijay Chaudhuri.

This week, Fisher commented:

Pellegrini said that he was asked who he had spoken with about the rat problem in the city. The rat issue was politically unfavorable to Bhalla, because some critics, including Fisher, argued that the city took too long to address it.

Of Pellegrini's claims, Fisher said Thursday, "The City Council and the residents of Hoboken need to investigate. This touches so many things."

Affects The Kids

The sudden resignation of Pellegrini threw several sports programs for kids into upheaval last year.

Among them, Pellegrini was in charge of two soccer programs in Hoboken — one, a fall Hoboken Recreation program that charged $45 per child, and a private traveling soccer football club that starts at $1,500 per child.

After Pellegrini left, the city publicly warned that both programs might have to be canceled in summer or fall. Parents involved in the travel soccer program had a private meeting with Bhalla and founded a new football club to continue that program.

For recreation soccer, a new vendor was brought in rather than the longtime organizers. In fall, many of the games were canceled due to weather and no makeup days were offered for several of those weekends, a source said. The city has not yet chosen its vendor for the coming season, sources said.

See more reporting on the Pellegrini suit in Hudson County View.

Related Stories

• See background on Pellegrini's resignation: Hoboken Director Pellegrino Resigns Suddenly
• See story about Bhalla defending Pellegrino when Bhalla was running for mayor
  
• READ MORE: Pot Or Not?