Some In Holmdel Want Critelli To Pay Back Money After Probe

HOLMDEL, NJ — Whether you see it as political warfare or possible ethics violations, the in-fighting on the Holmdel Township Committee only continues in 2020.

A majority of the Holmdel Twp. Committee now say they want fellow Committeeman Tom Critelli to pay back the $9,872 Holmdel paid his company, Daniton Development, in 2013. The Twp. paid him that money for flooding damage that occurred at his home from Hurricane Irene in August of 2011.

This came after Holmdel's insurance company agreed to pay Critelli $30,000 for the damage, and Critelli signed a legal agreement that absolved Holmdel of any further responsibility. He then accepted the additional $9,872 as a payment from Holmdel Twp.

Now, seven years after the fact, some decry that payment as a backroom deal.

"They were not paying a firm for their services; they were paying the owner of a firm for a backroom deal," said Holmdel Committeeman and political newcomer Prakash Santhana. "I want everyone to be aware of this and in my opinion, it's fraud."

Last week the Holmdel Twp. Committee sent a letter to the state Local Finance Board, asking them to open an ethics investigation into Critelli. All four Twp. Committee members — Mayor Greg Buontempo, Deputy Mayor Cathy Weber, Committeeman Rocco Pascucci and Santhana — signed it. Pascucci took it one step further on Wednesday, saying Critelli should pay back the money and resign from office.

"I'm not saying it's a crime, I'm saying it's unethical," Pasucci told Patch on Wednesday. "You can't make any side deals you want; it's not appropriate. He should pay back the money and resign. This makes me sick to my stomach."

Santhana also sent his own letter to the state, asking them to investigate Critelli's actions.

"I definitely want him to return the $10,000," said Santhana. "I'll hold my response on him resigning until we get a response from the Local Finance Board, to be fair."

Critelli said Wednesday he has no intention of paying back the money, which he says was fairly given to him. He also said this is continued payback because he supported former Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds last year.

"This is more political nonsense and they intend to cause political chaos," Critelli told Patch today. "They were out for Hinds all last year and now they are coming after me. They are trying to get me to step down, and I'm not going to. There is nothing here; the prosecutor's office found nothing criminal."

Prosecutor investigated the matter, found no criminality

This all comes after someone made an anonymous complaint to the office of Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Grammiccioni in the fall of 2019 to look into the 2013 payment. The prosecutor's office would not reveal who made the complaint.

Detectives with the county prosecutor launched a full investigation into the matter and publicly announced in January in the form of this letter that they found no evidence of criminality or law breaking. The county prosecutor did, however, admonish Critelli for voting to authorize the payment to himself and admonished the Twp. Committee as a whole, saying they should discuss and decide such payments in public.

Santhana said Wednesday it was Hinds and then-Holmdel Mayor Pat Impreveduto who had the private discussion to pay Critelli the additional $9,872.

"I am claiming that all three of them colluded to pay Daniton," he said. "I don't know if the prosecutor followed that angle. Why was the check made out to Daniton, and not Critelli?"

He said Daniton submitted a W-9 to the Township, making it look like a vendor.

"Daniton should have registered with the town as a vendor and gone through the procurement process if it was going to be paid," said Santhana. "This, in my opinion, is tantamount to fraudulent invoicing."

Buontempo was an elected official back in 2013, but he did not attend that February 2013 meeting where the Twp. Committee authorized the payment to Daniton. He said Wednesday he "personally thinks the money should be paid back to Holmdel taxpayers. The settlement agreement was the agreement. No additional money for that claim should have been paid."

Pascucci and Buontempo are up for re-election in 2020.

"Buontempo and Pascucci are in survival mode in a fight for their political careers," said Critelli.

Pascucci emphatically said on Wednesday he is not running for re-election (although Buontempo appears to be).

"This has nothing to do with politics; I didn't know about this until the prosecutor dumped it in our laps. And I'm not running," said Pascucci. "He signed a legal agreement to say the town would pay $30,000 and then he gets another ten? No, that is not acceptable to me."

The Local Finance Board, if they choose to investigate, can determine if Critelli committed an ethics violation. They can also fine him, if they choose. They cannot remove an elected official from office.

The back story:

Critelli's home, located on Heyward Hills Drive in Holmdel, was damaged due to flooding from Hurricane Irene in August of 2011. (This was before Critelli was elected to the Holmdel Twp. Committee.) Critelli said the flooding was so bad because a town sewer backed up, and that Holmdel Township was responsible for the damage. At the time, many homes in Holmdel were damaged by flooding from Irene, and the Twp. engineer even admitted that improper maintenance of sewers was partially to blame.

Critelli initially wanted the Township to pay $80,000 in damages. After filing a Notice of Tort Claim — a notice he would sue if he and Holmdel could not reach an agreement — Critelli negotiated with the Township's insurance carrier, Scibal Associates, for a payment of $30,000.

He said he also agreed to accept an additional $9,872 directly from Holmdel Township.

"In total, I agreed I would take 50 percent of the $79,000, a little under $40,000," said Critelli. "The insurance company would pay $30,000 and the rest would come from the Township. I took a bath on that remaining $40,000."

Critelli said this was an agreement he made with Impreveduto, who was mayor at the time, and then-business administrator Andy Katz. Katz is no longer employed with the Twp. and Impreveduto is a current Monmouth County Freeholder, now in his last term. Critelli said he has e-mails between himself and the two men that prove the agreement. He said he did not feel comfortable releasing those emails to Patch, but said he did hand them all over to the prosecutor.

"The insurance company was only paying him $30,000," Impreveduto told Patch last week. "Tom was going to sue the town for the remainder of the money. On the direction of Katz, who said this man has significant damage to his home, we said let's save the town money and give him the $9,800 or whatever it was and end this. That was it. Nothing was done behind closed doors, under the table or however you want to call it."

Prosecutor did say Critelli should have recused himself

Critelli was sworn into office in January of 2013 and at the Feb. 5, 2013 Township Committee meeting, he and the rest of the Committee approved the $9,872 check to be issued to his company, Danitom Development.

Critelli said he voted on it because that payment was "tucked into 130-item bills payable list," he said. "It was never listed on the agenda as a separate agenda item."

"It was on bills payable," agreed Impreveduto. "All the members there voted on it. That was it."

Nonetheless, the county prosecutor reprimanded the Holmdel Twp. Committee to be more careful going forward about what payments they approve.

"Mr. Critelli voted for a check to be issued to his own company, which is a clear conflict of interest," wrote Gramiccioni in his January letter. "Critelli should have recused himself ... It is incumbent on committee members to be diligent in reviewing payments to be made by the township."

The prosecutor also said the decision to pay Critelli the $9,800 should have been discussed on record before the entire committee.

"Additionally, any discussions regarding payments to settle lawsuits should be discussed with the full committee as well as the township attorney, not settled behind the scenes without a full discussion among the committee," said Grammiccioni.

Critelli had this to say on Wednesday:

"The settlement my wife and I accepted eight years ago represented only half of the damages we sustained from the Township's failed storm water system. Our property was severely damaged and the estimated repairs exceeded $80,000. By accepting $39,872, which was negotiated with the administrator, we saved ourselves legal fees, and the Township saved an additional $40,000 in potential damages from litigation."

"This is more political nonsense and the residents deserve better service from Pascucci and Weber. Mayor Buontempo was well aware of this since he was on the township Committee when our house was flooded; he never brought it up back than. You have to ask why they are bringing this up now?"

Initial Patch report: Prosecutor Investigates Payment Holmdel Made To Committeeman

Letter from County Prosecutor Chris Grammiccioni on his investigation into the matter: http://www.holmdeltownship-nj.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01282020-585