The Jersey City Independent "

Share/Save

Upwards of 300 residents packed into City Council chambers this evening to protest a proposed tax hike — a story we’ll have more on in our full council report on Friday — but one of the more interesting developments to come out of this week’s City Council meeting was voted on after the majority of the crowd had left.

A resolution that would have hired law firm Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein, Celso & Zitomer to “investigate … and make a recommendation concerning the removal” of Joe Cardwell from the board of the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) was replaced with a resolution that instead “direct[s]” the MUA to remove Cardwell from the board.

Cardwell, a heavy-hitting political consultant, was arrested in July as part of the wide-ranging federal corruption bust that blew Hudson County politics wide open. Mayor Healy asked Cardwell to resign from the board after his arrest in July, but he has refused. Cardwell was indicted on Jan. 13 on charges of accepting $30,000 in bribes from a federal informant posing as a crooked developer.

The council voted unanimously in favor of the revised resolution; Cardwell will be served with a copy, which will “constitute charges pursuant to statute” and force his removal from the board within ten days of his receipt of it. Cardwell will have the right to request a hearing prior to his removal. City attorney Bill Matsikoudis was not present at Wednesday’s meeting and could not be immediately reached to comment on why the Law Department revised the resolution.

As a member of the MUA’s board, Cardwell is entitled to health benefits from the city, a fact that Ward E councilman Steven Fulop takes exception to. At Monday’s caucus, Fulop told the council to expect a first-read ordinance from him that would put an end to benefits for MUA board members as well as members of the board of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA). The MUA and the JCIA are the only two of the city’s nearly 40 part-time boards and commissions that offer health benefits to its members.

Fulop’s promised ordinance did not materialize at Wednesday’s meeting, but he says he’ll have it ready for the next council meeting. He also asked the council to withdraw two resolutions that reappointed Michael J. Malloy and William Chopek, Jr. to the JCIA and MUA, respectively. But Fulop’s reasoning — that the matter should be decided after his ordinance regarding the benefits is voted on — did not sway the majority of the council. Although the measures were not withdrawn, they did not pass without opposition, as Ward B councilman David Donnelly and Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez both lodged abstentions on the two resolutions.

UPDATE: Reached by phone on Thursday, Cardwell’s attorney Henry Klingeman told JCI that his client “is innocent until proven guilty and has no plans to resign.” Klingeman indicated that Cardwell will request a hearing, but neither he nor the city Law Department could say immediately when that might occur.