In his December 13, 2013 letter, New Jersey Local Finance Board Chairman Thomas H. Neff cleared Dover Town (Morris County) Mayor James P. Dodd of ethics charges for owning a business that repaired vehicles for the Borough of Victory Gardens despite Dodd having signed a Shared Services Agreement between Dover and Victory Gardens.
   
Neff’s letter in the case, Complaint No. LFB-11-096, is on-line here.  Invoices and purchases orders evidencing that Dodd’s business, J.D. Automotive & Truck, performed repair services for Victory Garden are on-line here.

Neff’s letter noted that neither J.D. Automotive nor Dodd solicited the repair work from Victory Gardens and that the work “occurred randomly” and was “not significant enough to . . . impair [Dodd’s] objectivity or independence of judgment.”  However, Neff advised, “any future repair work by J.D. Automotive on vehicles belonging to the Borough of Victory Gardens be bid in accordance with procurement rules and regulations, regardless of bid threshold requirements.”

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to [email protected]