Toms River Mayor Sues MUA, Commissioners Over Health Benefits

TOMS RIVER, NJ — For months Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick has been pressing for an end to the health benefits provided to the commissioners of the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority and even for an end to the MUA itself, calling it a patronage pit.

Now, he is going after the benefits in a lawsuit filed Oct. 30. Rodrick is a party to the lawsuit filed by the township in his capacity as a ratepayer of the MUA and as a taxpayer, according to the complaint filed by attorney Donald F. Burke.

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The lawsuit names the MUA along with all seven commissioners: James Braaten, Phil Brilliant, Sam Ellenbogen, Kim Pascarella, Katarina Sevastakis, Tariq Siddiqui and Charles Valvano.

It contends the commissioners are not entitled to receive the health benefits under the township's ordinances, which the lawsuit says limits compensation to $2,000 per year. The MUA was established in 1949; the ordinance governing compensation was approved in 2004, according to Toms River's eCode website.

The MUA, which meets monthly, is responsible for maintaining the Toms River's sanitary sewer system. Sewage treatment is handled by the Ocean County Utilities Authority.

According to the lawsuit, Braaten receives $21,150 in health benefits, Brilliant receives $20,700, Ellenbogen receives $50,400, Pascarella receives $50,400, Sevastakis receives $31,700, Siddiqui receives $2,500 and Valvano receives $50,400.

The lawsuit alleges the health benefits expenditures "use Authority funds available for utility operations and other lawful Authority purposes. Upon information and belief, the Authority funds operating costs in material part through service charges collected from Rodrick and other ratepayers."

It includes a demand to investigate how the health benefits coverage was approved, how much has been paid out, a halt to any further payments and an order forcing repayment of money to the authority that was paid out.

Of the seven MUA commissioners, three — Braaten, Pascarella and Ellenbogen — were appointed by Rodrick. Pascarella is the township's municipal prosecutor; Ellenbogen is an Ocean County commissioner, and Braaten, an attorney, is the stepson of Township Councilman Craig Coleman.

Sevastakis is the daughter of former Toms River Councilman John Sevastakis. Siddiqui is a former engineer with the Ocean County Utilities Authority who retired from that position in 2012.

Rodrick has repeatedly raised the issue of the MUA health benefits with respect to Brilliant, claiming Brilliant was receiving $40,000 per year in health coverage for a position that Rodrick said met for 30 minutes once a month.

Brilliant has been a vocal critic of Rodrick and has pushed for recalls of ordinances targeting the police department staffing, the Toms River Animal Shelter and sued the township to force full recordings of the Toms River Township Council meetings on the town's YouTube channel, after Rodrick repeatedly shut down livestreams when public comment started.

Brilliant was one of three people who organized a petition to recall Rodrick as mayor; that effort failed to receive enough signatures to move to a vote.

Rodrick has sought action by the Township Council on the MUA over the last three years, including an attempt to introduce an ordinance in November 2025 to eliminate the MUA. The motion to introduce that ordinance was rejected, with then-Council President Justin Lamb saying it should be a discussion of the incoming council in casting the deciding vote.

In March Rodrick issued a statement to reporters demanding the Township Council consider an ordinance barring MUA commissioners from receiving health benefits, but that received no traction.

While the issue has been a persistent argument since Rodrick became mayor, it's far from the first time the health benefits and even the MUA's existence have been a source of controversy in the town.

In 2020, Rodrick was censured as a sitting councilman over allegations he had leaked information from an executive session of the Township Council about discussions of ending health benefits for the MUA commissioners. Rodrick denied the allegations and claimed he was the subject of a political witch hunt.

Nearly a decade earlier, in 2011, the health benefits became an issue when resident Nels Luthman questioned why the commissioners were being offered $24,000 compensation that included the $2,000 stipend.

There were discussions of dissolving the MUA then, with Paul Brush, a Democrat and former mayor of Toms River, suggesting it. Brush's suggestion was part of a larger controversy over the appointment of Stephen Acropolis, then mayor in Brick Township, as the Toms River MUA executive director, after MUA commissioner Juan Carlos Bellu was hired as assistant township administrator in Brick.

During the 2011 controversy, then-Mayor Thomas Kelaher said the potential for dissolving the Toms River MUA was being studied, but nothing came of the discussions.

Gregory McGuckin, who was a Toms River councilman at the time, said Brush had asked about the possibility of dissolving the MUA while Brush was mayor from 2004 to 2008.

In 2013, Brush and a slate of Democratic council candidates pledged to eliminate the Toms River MUA if they got elected to the council, also calling it a patronage pit. The four Republican incumbents won re-election that year.