Monmouth County GOP Stands By Holmdel Mayor Hinds Despite Censure

HOLMDEL, NJ — Both the Holmdel GOP and the Monmouth County Republican party said they still support Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds for re-election, despite the fact that he was censured this week for a possibly diverting more than $2 million in unapproved taxpayer money for turf fields.

"Let me be clear: Mayor Eric Hinds and Chiung-yin Liu (his running mate) are the endorsed candidates of the Holmdel and Monmouth County Republican Party," said Holmdel GOP chair Marcy McMullen, two days after Hinds was censured.

Hinds is up for re-election Nov. 5. Independent candidates Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana are challenging him for his seat, and one other open seat.

The Monmouth County Republican party is led by chairman Shaun Golden, who is also the Monmouth County Sheriff and is said to be mulling a run for New Jersey governor. He did not return Patch's request for comment when asked Thursday if he still supports Hinds.

But McMullen, who runs the Holmdel GOP, called the censure "fake news" and politically motivated by his opponents.

"Unfortunately, this year the falsehoods are coming from people who once claimed to be on our side," said McMullen. "Don't believe them."

As Patch reported, Hinds was censured Tuesday night by three fellow Republicans on the Holmdel Township Committee: Mike Nikolis, Greg Buontempo and Rocco Pascucci. They allege that for the past year, Hinds has deliberately and continually misdirected millions in taxpayer money for what they call his "pet project:" to build turf fields at the Holmdel Swim Club.

Hinds did this without a majority vote or even formal discussion from the Township Committee, fellow Republicans say.

"This is not the way government is supposed to work," Pascucci told Patch this week. "What he did was wrong, and we caught him and he knows it."

The issue: $2.1 million on turf fields at the Holmdel Swim Club (at the old tennis courts)

As is usually the case in Holmdel, it all comes down to turf fields, long a controversial topic in town. For years Hinds, a youth soccer coach, has sought to build turf in Holmdel. Most parents of youth sports players support him, but others in Holmdel disagree, saying they want to preserve the natural farmland beauty of the area.

In February of this year, the Township Committee approved a $2.5 million bond to pay for various improvements for the Holmdel Youth Activities Association. The bond was not specifically earmarked for turf, but rather for a range of improvements including upgrades for girls' softball and youth football.

Alarm bells went off a few days prior to an April 9 council meeting, when two bills totaling approximately $2 million were found tucked into the "bills payable" section of a Holmdel Township Committee draft agenda. One was for $388,740 to be paid to Musco Sports Lighting for "Swim Club - Turf Field Lighting" and the second was for $1.6 million to be paid to FieldTurf, again for "Swim Club - Turf."

Before the meeting was held, Nikolis and Pascucci objected, saying a majority of the committee had never voted on or discussed such a large expense. Pascucci said he contacted Holmdel's Twp. attorney, Michael Collins, after he saw those two bills on the agenda.

"I said, 'Mike, it can't be on bills payable, we know nothing about this," Pascucci told Patch.

Pascucci and Nikolis say that Hinds diverted $2 million from the $2.5 million bond, and instead tried to put the money into turf.

Hinds told Patch this week that the $2 million was mistakenly put in the bills payable section.

"It was a mistake that it went into bills payable," he said.

Pascucci countered that it could be no mistake. The bills payable section is where routine, non-controversial bills above $3,500 go, such as a new engine for a Township vehicle.

"Nobody ever puts $2.1 million in the bills payable list. That means it's a done deal," he said. "If we hadn't picked it up, it would have been paid. It was a done deal, ready to go."

Additionally, a large expense such as that would traditionally first be introduced as a resolution on the Council agenda, where elected officials can discuss the matter in public, and perhaps even take public comment.

Hinds contends that the other three council members deliberately skipped that April 9 meeting so that no vote or discussion on turf could be taken. Pascucci said he skipped it in protest.

Hinds also said that former ally Nikolis was originally on board with turf fields at the swim club, but then turned against him.

Nikolis said that yes, this past winter he told Hinds in a meeting with Holmdel lacrosse players and their families that he thought turf fields at the swim club were "a great idea."

"But it was never formally discussed among the Township Committee or voted on it. I told him I thought it was a great idea. The very next time I heard about it, it was buried in the consent agenda. He tried to sneak this past us," said Nikolis this week.

Yet a third bill for turf fields pops up

Then in August yet another mysterious invoice for turf fields popped up, this time in the form of a $58,000 bill from Holmdel Twp. engineer T&M Associates. T&M was asking to be paid for a study they did to examine the feasibility of building turf fields at the swim club.

T&M said they were directed by Holmdel Township to do the study — but Pascucci said again that the Township Committee never discussed or authorized such a thing.

By all appearances, Holmdel Twp. was moving full steam ahead with building turf fields at the swim club, directing $2.1 million total towards the project. According to three out of the five Holmdel elected officials, all the plan lacked was majority approval from the Township Committee.

"I believe in democracy," Pascucci said. "You need a majority vote, three people, before you do something like this."

After the August bill popped up, Holmdel Township's lawyer launched an investigation into who was directing the turf field expenses. Collins subpoenaed people to testify and combed through emails related to the turf project.

T&M Associates testified on the record that all the work was approved by Donna Vieiro, Holmdel's former township administrator, who quit this summer.

Vieiro was subpoenaed as well, and at a September public hearing she said she was directed to advance the turf projects at Hinds' request. But Vieiro also said she did nothing wrong and that “it was everyone’s understanding that the township committee knew about it (the turf fields) already.”

Emails show Hinds directing Twp. staff to move forward with turf fields

Through OPRA requests, numerous emails have been found that show Hinds directing Holmdel Twp. employees to advance the turf project.

In February, Vieiro sent an email to Hinds breaking down the cost for $1.6 million to put turf at the swim club. In the email, she said she "put together some numbers for the work that you requested at the old tennis center" and sent them to Victor Stevens, Holmdel's Operations Director.

"Absolute no brainer," Hinds replied. "I want to move on this ASAP."

Another memo in April shows Chris Rotolo, Holmdel's former communications clerk, sending a draft of a press release to Vieiro, telling her: "This is what I have so far: The Township will install a new multi-sport turf facility ... These improvements will begin immediately so residents will be able to fully enjoy the facilities when the Swim Club opens for the 2019 season on May 25."

A later email showed Vieiro telling T&M that turf fields are a "tippy top" priority for Holmdel Township.

Hinds maintains he did his job as mayor by advancing turf fields.

"I get paid $3,000 a year to help drive initiatives. If people want to blame me for that, go ahead," he said.

He also said he is the victim of a coordinated political attack by Nikolis, Pascucci, Buontempo and his rival Independent slate. Committeeman Tom Critelli agrees, and on Tuesday he was the sole vote against censuring Hinds.

"I've gotten 20 to 30 checks in the past few days because people just want to support me after this," said Hinds. "I 100 percent have the support of Shaun Golden and the county Republican Party."

McMullen credited Hinds as being the key dealmaker to bring Bell Works to Holmdel, a business hub that has created thousands of jobs and generates substantial tax revenue.

The censure vote will now be sent to the Monmouth County Ethics Board, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, the Local Finance Board, the Monmouth County Freeholders and to the New Jersey State Legislators, all of which have the option of opening up their own investigation.

"This is not political," said Pascucci. "I'm not running for re-election after this and I'll never get the support of the county Republican party after this."

Read: Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds Censured Over $2.1M Turf Field Expense

Holmdel Investigates Who Authorized $58K Turf Field Study

Update: This article was updated on Oct. 31 to reflect newly-received emails obtained from Holmdel Town Hall through an OPRA request.