On May 19, 2017 this blog reported on a lawsuit Commercial Township (Cumberland County) filed against its former Mayor claiming that he intentionally breached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) that the Mayor signed in March 2016 shortly after abruptly resigning from office.  On September 7, 2017, the Township and the former Mayor entered into a settlement that resolved the lawsuit.  Background on the Mayor’s resignation are reported in a September 25, 2016 blog article.

After former Commercial Township Mayor Judson Moore resigned from office, he entered into a May 16, 2016 MOA that was signed by four Township employees who had filed harassment complaints against Moore.  The MOA forbade Moore from harassing the complainants, as well as their friends and relatives.  It also prevented Moore from seeking public office or employment in the Township, forbade him from making “excessive or multiple OPRA requests” or attending public meetings with an intent to “harass, provoke and/or unreasonably interrupt the ongoings” of those meetings and also forbade him from visiting the municipal building except for “general business as a township taxpayer.”

Notably, the MOA did not contain any enforcement mechanism except to provide that if any violations of the MOA were not corrected after notice was given, “the parties shall consent to a neutral mediator to determine whether or not such actions shall make this ongoing negotiated agreement null and void.”  The Township’s March 29, 2017 lawsuit alleged that Moore announced at a fire district meeting that the MOA “does not hold water,” presumably because of the lack of a meaningful enforcement mechanism.

The settlement of the Township’s lawsuit against Moore took the form of an amended MOA that was signed by the parties and Moore’s four harassment complainants on September 7, 2017.  It supersedes the original MOA and amended some of the restrictions that the original MOA imposed upon Moore.  Nothing in the amended MOA prevents Moore from making excessive OPRA requests or restricts him from attending public meetings and visiting the municipal building.  The amended MOA only prevents Moore from becoming a paid or unpaid Township employee, running for Township Committee and from initiating conversations with the employees who accused him of harassment concerning those accusations. 

As for enforcement, the amended MOA provides that if anyone needs to enforce the new MOA’s terms in court, the winner will have his or her attorney fees reimbursed by the amended MOA’s violators.  The amended MOA also contains releases by the four employees, Moore and the Township from anything that has happened in the past.

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