I'm Embarrassed You're A Latino: Toms River Attorney Attacks Resident

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A meeting that began with a councilman accusing another member of the council of using homophobic and misogynistic language ended with the Toms River Township attorney insulting a Latino resident, calling the resident "embarrassing."

It was the latest chapter in contentious meetings involving the Toms River Township Council and Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick that have filled the last three years with controversy in Toms River. Videos of the two incidents are at the end of this article.

Township Attorney Jonathan Penney insulted resident Carlos Almanzar during the public comment portion of Wednesday's Township Council meeting after Almanzar urged the council and Rodrick to sit down and negotiate over the township's affordable housing plans.

Toms River has been trying to finalize its affordable housing plans as part of New Jersey's fourth round of planning under the Mount Laurel doctrine. Under a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in 1975, towns cannot use zoning to bar low- and moderate income residents from their towns, and must provide a "fair share" of affordable housing within their borders.

But the town's plan approved in December 2025 has fallen apart after a developer who initially agreed to extending deed restrictions on affordable units backed out of the deal.

The reversal by the Hope's Crossing developer has left Toms River trying to come up with units to make up for the ones lost. The deed restrictions were expected to provide Toms River with 110 units, plus 83.25 bonus credits toward its need of 649 units by 2035.

The conflict between Rodrick and the council centers on a proposal by Rodrick to use two 10-acre lots, part of land Toms River bought for open space in 2016.

At the time of the $10.3 million purchase, Rodrick — who was then a candidate for council — urged the council not to buy the property but to instead change it to highway business zoning so it could generate ratables.

After the purchase, Toms River never listed the properties on its Recreational and Open Space Inventory. That oversight played a role in the selection of those properties in the efforts to make up for the units lost by the Hope's Crossing withdrawal. On Wednesday night, the council voted unanimously to put those properties on the town's open space inventory.

Council President David Ciccozzi said the council majority — him, Tom Nivison, Robert Bianchini and Clinton Bradley — oppose the plan for Toms River to turn over the two 10-acre parcels to private developers for multiple reasons, including that the private developers still have their own property to build on. That could lead to overdevelopment, he said.

The fight over that piece and the lack of a finalized plan has led to the Fair Share Housing Center filing a motion asking Superior Court Judge Sean Gertner, who is overseeing the affordable housing matters, to force Toms River to act and put in place some elements that had been in the plan but were removed.

The Asbury Park Press reported that includes a piece proposed on Route 70 near the Lake Ridge development that residents of that community strongly opposed, along with the potential for builder's remedy lawsuits. Those would allow developers to sue to build more units than zoning allows if they include affordable units.

During public comment near the end of the meeting, Almanzar went to the microphone to urge the council and Rodrick to negotiate. He addressed comments to Penney then asked Penney why he was laughing at what he said.

Penney responded by challenging Almanzar to explain what he meant by negotiate.

"Do you mean give in to everything those four want?" he said, pointing to the council members opposing the use of the town's property.

Penney insisted Rodrick has made changes to the affordable housing plan in response to council concerns.

Ciccozzi, Nivison, Bianchini and Bradley have said they have had no input in the discussions but have repeatedly been handed plans and told they have to approve them. Rodrick has insisted he has tried to reach out to the council members but they refuse to meet.

Penney, responding to comments made by a prior speaker, mocked the four council members.

"The basic point was that these guys have zero agency in this decision. That is so irresponsible," Penney said. "I can't believe as an attorney I have to sit here and point that out."

"These people are four elected officials and they sit up here going, 'Oh, the mayor's a bully,' " Penney said, standing up and gesturing toward the four. "You're the council president Come into the building. This whole aw shucks
routine is wearing thin."

Almanzar shouted into the microphone trying to reclaim his speaking time, but Penney responded. "You're a clown, man. I'm embarrassed to be Hispanic. I'm embarrassed to be Latino and have you be Latino as well."

Almanzar said: "What have you done for our people? What have you done for our people?" followed by calling Penney a "little b---," and Penney said, "I'm a proud Latino man and I'm embarrassed that you are part of that community."

Almanzar then challenged Penney to meet him outside and Penney said, "I'm scared. I want that on the record."

During his council comments, Bradley said he intends to file an ethics charge against Penney over the comments.

Watch the exchange:

A hijacked livestream

The council meeting opened contentiously as well. As members of the council and residents waited in the council meeting room, Mayor Daniel Rodrick told Council President David Ciccozzi there were technical problems with the meeting's livestream.

However, as the conversations in the meeting room continued, the livestream began to show Councilman Craig Coleman reading a resolution that was added to the council agenda late Wednesday afternoon.

The resolution that Coleman read accused Nivison of verbally attacking Councilwoman Lynn O'Toole during executive sessions of the council, allegedly calling her a vulgar profanity and allegedly telling her to "shut the f--- up."

The resolution also rehashed charges that have been filed against Nivison in the past, long before he ran for the council as part of Rodrick's ticket in 2023. Since Nivison broke with Rodrick in early 2024, Rodrick has brought up Nivison's past legal issues repeatedly.

The resolution called on the township attorney to make sure all documentation was kept in case a lawsuit was filed over Nivison's alleged behavior, and called for an investigation.

Near the end of the 7-minute speech, Ciccozzi can be heard in the background telling new arrivals to the meeting that it was delayed because of technical issues with the livestream, and Rodrick can be heard telling him, it will be "two more minutes."

A short time later, Nivison can be heard telling Ciccozzi that he's been told Coleman is reading a resolution about him on the livestream.

"So there's nothing wrong with the feed. It's just a ploy by the scammers over here," Nivison can be heard saying.

"If you won't allow folks to speak then we'll do it on our own," Rodrick replied.

"So it was a lie right off the bat by the mayor," Nivison said. "No, I said the feed wasn't ready," Rodrick replied.

"No, you said the feed was down," Nivison said.

The resolution, which was added to the council agenda over the objections of Ciccozzi, appears to have been a response to two other resolutions on the agenda.

The first sought to censure O'Toole, who has participated remotely in council meetings for most of 2025, over the objections of Ciccozzi and others. Rodrick has several times said she was participating remotely because of health issues, but the resolution alleges "an unauthorized third party" was influencing and directing her participation.

The resolution did not name the alleged third party, but comments have been made in public at previous council meetings alleging Rodrick's wife has been sitting with her. Rodrick's wife was in attendance at Wednesday's council meeting for the first time in several months.

The second resolution was a "no confidence" vote directed at Rodrick over the Oct. 19, 2026 council meeting, where he insulted multiple residents who spoke at the microphone during public comment — something Rodrick has done routinely in his three years as mayor. (That council meeting video can be viewed on YouTube; public comment begins at the 25-minute mark.)

A video clip from the meeting of comments he made to Dana Tormollan, telling her to "get a job" and dismissing her remarks, made the rounds on social media after the Oct. 19 meeting and drew widespread criticism of Rodrick. Tormollan has been vocal in her criticisms of Rodrick and was one of three people who led a petition seeking to recall Rodrick as mayor. The petition did not reach the more than 18,000 signatures needed to move forward with a recall.

The conflict between the council and Rodrick has led to multiple shouting matches, with Rodrick talking and yelling over people he disagrees with, saying he is countering lies. Nivison has been loud as well, talking over Rodrick in an attempt to stop him from speaking.

At the Oct. 19 council meeting, as Rodrick began giving his remarks during officials' comments at the end of the meeting, Nivison began talking loudly, interrupting Rodrick's comments, an apparent attempt to respond in kind to behavior Rodrick has demonstrated for months.

The resolutions censuring O'Toole and giving a "no confidence" vote to Rodrick passed 4-3, with Ciccozzi, Nivison, Bianchini and Bradley voting in favor and Coleman, O'Toole and Councilman Harry Aber voting against.

When the resolution to censure Nivison came up, it was tabled by a 4-3 vote. In the aftermath, Rodrick commented, "It's on the record anyway."

The opening livestream of the meeting with Coleman reading the resolution and the conversation in the background can be watched here.