Claims Of Nepotism At Holmdel Town Hall: 2 Employees Suspended

HOLMDEL, NJ — Two longtime Holmdel municipal employees have been suspended pending allegations against them of nepotism.

Additionally, Holmdel's chief financial officer quit at around the same time. The town's CFO, Jeanette Larrison, gave her two-week notice the week of April 8 and she was gone by that Friday, April 12.

Holmdel Township Administrator Donna Vieiro and Human Resources Director Denise Callery have both been suspended with pay while they are being investigated for alleged nepotism. This news was first publicly announced at the May 6 Holmdel Twp. Committee meeting.

Also at that meeting, the Holmdel Twp. Committee made the decision to hire an outside lawyer to investigate Vieiro and Callery.

It was Holmdel Twp. Committeeman Mike Nikolis who first made the motion to hire an outside counsel to investigate the allegations.

"I appreciate all the hard work Vieiro has done for this town, but these are serious allegations involving nepotism," said Nikolis. "There is pending and anticipated ligation that the public is not privy to," he cryptically added.

At that May 6 meeting, Holmdel Township Attorney Michael Collins read a lengthy statement in which he revealed that someone filed a complaint against Vieiro and Callery.

A former Holmdel Township employee, who shall remain anonymous, filed a complaint that Callery's relative interviewed for a position working as payroll supervisor/confidential assistant for Holmdel Twp. That job would report to both the CFO (Larrison) and the head of HR (Callery).

"The complainant contended that the HR Director (Callery) actively participated with her on the panel for her relative’s own interview, and that after the interview concluded, openly advocated for her relative’s hire over a different candidate, whom the complainant felt was more qualified and deserving of being hired," said Collins. "The complainant alleged that the Administrator (Vieiro) was actively aware of (Callery's) familial conflict throughout the hiring process, yet permitted (Callery) to actively participate in her relative’s own interview. She also alleged that (Vieiro) had a close personal relationship with (Callery) and her family, which she contended also presented as a nepotism concern. Finally, the complainant alleged incompatibility of the proposed positions under the nepotism policy. Specifically, the complainant contended that the confidential assistant component of the proposed payroll supervisor/confidential assistant position would report to (Callery), which if accurate, would have put the alleged relatives in a direct reporting relationship."

Holmdel, like many towns in New Jersey, has a strict policy against nepotism and conflicts of interest.

However, Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds said the relative would never have been reporting to Callery, and that that assertion by the complainant is inaccurate.

Hinds also maintains that "nothing was done wrong here, in my view." He also said Larrison's departure was not sudden, that she had been interviewing for some time and that she simply left for a better job.

When the complainant brought these nepotism concerns to Vieiro, Vieiro suspended that person with pay, said Collins.

From there, Vieiro also recommended that Callery's relative be hired not just as payroll supervisor, but as the Acting Chief Financial Officer for Holmdel. She said Callery's relative had experience with such a job; however, she showed no such experience on her resume, Collins said.

"I determined that the complainant’s allegations, on their face, raised serious concerns (about) nepotism and conflict of interest policies, as well as the Local Government Ethics Law," said Collins.

Both Vieiro and Callery waived their rights to have the matter discussed in private, and allowed all this to be discussed during the May 6 public portion of the Township Committee meeting. By waiving their RICE notices, Vieiro and Callery specifically wanted the allegations against them to be discussed publicly.

Collins said that after the complaint was made, Callery wrote him a letter, where she agreed with many of the assertions the complainant made, but, according to Collins, she also "felt that her relative was far more qualified, and was concerned that the other candidate did not have the experience we needed, including payroll."

The law firm of Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs has been hired by Holmdel to conduct an independent investigation into these claims.

At that May 6 meeting, Holmdel Twp. Committeemen Greg Buontempo, Mike Nikolis and Rocco Pascucci voted “yes” to suspend Vieiro and Callery with pay while the investigation takes place, CentralJersey reported.

Twp. Committeeman Tom Critteli was the sole "no" vote, saying he was apprehensive about “losing the most effective business administrator the town has ever had.”

Hinds was not in attendance at that May 6 meeting. He said he was unavailable to attend that meeting.

"I am eager for the facts to quickly come out. In my opinion nothing was done wrong and I did not see any reason why Donna and Denise should be suspended," he said to Patch on Wednesday. "What are we gaining by not having Denise and Donna not working?"

He noted that Vieiro, particularly, has been a valued Holmdel Twp. administrator and helped Holmdel achieve a triple A bond rating last year.

The nepotism allegation is shaping up to be a political football used by both Hinds and Nikolis, two former running mates who are now political foes. Both Hinds and Nikolis are running for re-election; the primary is June 4.

The job of CFO is to maintain Holmdel's municipal finances, make sure town employees and bills are paid, put together the budget and issue bonds (borrow money). Holmdel is currently without a CFO, and Holmdel Police Chief John Mioduszewski is currently serving as Acting Township Administrator.

Mioduszewski wrote to Holmdel Township saying that he will forego compensation for serving in the role of Acting Township Administrator, saying he only wants to take his current salary as Chief of Police.

You can read the entire memo read by Holmdel Twp. lawyer Michael Collins to the Township Committee on May 6 regarding the nepotism allegations. This lengthy memo was read publicly at the Township Committee meeting: