Holmdel Suspends HR Director For 5 Days, Without Pay

HOLMDEL, NJ — Holmdel will fork over more taxpayer money (up to $50,000) to continue its controversial investigation into allegations of a nepotism violation at town hall. This week, new findings from the probe resulted in the town's human resources director, Denise Callery, being placed on a five-day, unpaid suspension.

Meanwhile, embattled Holmdel Twp. administrator Donna Vieiro remains suspended with pay from her $164,000-a-year job as the investigation into her alleged actions continues. A series of new allegations were made against her at the June 11 Holmdel Twp. Committee meeting.

The Holmdel Township Committee unanimously voted this past Tuesday night to pay an additional $50,000 to the outside law firm it hired to investigate the nepotism claim. That law firm is Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri and Jacobs, a politically connected Matawan-based law firm that does a substantial amount of legal work for the statewide Republican Party and for towns up and down the Jersey Shore. In fact, the lead attorney investigating the Holmdel case is Sean Kean, a Republican Assemblyman who represents Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey's 30th legislative district.

Kean has so far publicly testified multiple times at Holmdel Town Hall about his investigation. His law firm has already been paid $17,500 to conduct the probe so far, the Asbury Park Press reported.

At issue is a whistle-blower complaint filed in May against Vieiro and Callery, alleging that they tried to hire Callery's sister for a payroll supervisor/confidential assistant position at Holmdel Town Hall. The complaint was made by former Holmdel Twp. CFO Jeannette Larrison, who filed the complaint after she quit working for Holmdel.

The complaint has not been verified, but both Vieiro and Callery were initially suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

The investigation is controversial because Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds has continually called it a "politically-motivated witch hunt," and he has publicly defended both Callery and Vieiro.

In early June, the Holmdel Twp. Committee voted to bring Callery back to work, but on Tuesday night they voted to suspend her without pay for five days after they were informed of some of Kean's findings, which have not yet been made public.

Hinds abstained from the vote to suspend Callery. He explained why to Patch on Friday:

"I take it really seriously when there is an accusation of wrongdoing. And when accusations are made, they need to be proven," Hinds said. "But I am truly struggling to determine what was done wrong here. Denise's sister was going to work in a separate department totally different than Denise."

Hinds also pointed out that the daughter of the original whistle-blower, Larrison, worked as a paid summer intern for Holmdel at a point. A Holmdel police officer's mother works for the town and there is a father-son team on the DPW department, he noted.

"This is insane. What is the issue?," said Hinds. "I don't know any town in the state of New Jersey that forbids siblings from working together, as long as they don't report to each other. We've defamed two women's reputations for no reason."

Meanwhile, his political enemy, Holmdel Committee Mike Nikolis, was the sole "no" vote. Nikolis told Patch Friday he voted against it because he thought the five-day suspension was "not severe enough."

"It was a slap on the wrist," he said. "After reading the independent counsel's investigation, I was of the opinion that Denise should have been terminated."

When asked, Callery declined to talk to the Asbury Park Press about her suspension, only to say, "my co-workers have been wonderful and I’m glad to work with such a supportive group of great people.” She is paid $80,000 a year to work for Holmdel Township.

According to Nikolis, Kean presented the Township Committee with a 28-page summary document of the investigation so far. That document has not been made available to the public yet.

Vieiro's fate remains up in the air. More will be revealed at the next meeting of the Holmdel Twp. Committee on Tuesday, July 9.

Ongoing Patch reporting on this issue:

Claims Of Nepotism At Holmdel Town Hall: 2 Employees Suspended

New Allegations Emerge Against Holmdel Administrator