PASSAIC COUNTY — The work was as mundane as replacing a door on a kitchen cabinet. Pulling air conditioners. Tearing out wallboard. Fixing an outside wall. But the workers doing the home repair work were all employees at the treatment plant operated by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners. And the homes involved were those of their bosses. Three top-level...
Kevin Keogh, 45; Anthony Ardis, 56; and Chester Mazza, 69, officials at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, were charged with misconduct.PASSAIC COUNTY — The work was as mundane as replacing a door on a kitchen cabinet.
Pulling air conditioners. Tearing out wallboard. Fixing an outside wall.
But the workers doing the home repair work were all employees at the treatment plant operated by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners. And the homes involved were those of their bosses.
Three top-level officials at the authority were arrested Tuesday morning, charged with official misconduct in connection with the home improvement and repair work allegedly done on their orders by Passaic Valley employees while they were supposed to be on the job.
Arrested were Anthony Ardis, 56, of Paterson a former congressional aide and one-time PVSC commissioner; Kevin Keogh, 45, a former West Orange councilman and superintendent of special services at the agency; and Chester Mazza, 69, of Totowa, a retired New Jersey State Trooper who served as assistant superintendent under Keogh. The three men were among the most highly paid executives at the PSVC.
All were taken to the Passaic County Jail, and released on $75,000 bail. The three were immediately terminated by the PVSC upon their arrests. Keogh said he had been advised by his attorney that he could not comment. Ardis and Mazza did not return calls for comment.
News of the arrests was first reported Tuesday on NJ.com.
The criminal charges were just the latest hit on the troubled public authority, following revelations of widespread abuse, sweetheart deals and unchecked patronage detailed in a series of recent stories in The Star-Ledger over the past two-and-half weeks.
Last week, Gov. Chris Christie fired six of the commission’s seven board members, accusing them of using the agency as their own private piggy bank. And earlier this week, the PVSC’s new executive director, Wayne Forrest, hired in July at the governor’s behest, slashed the salaries of everyone making over $100,000 and imposed new ethics rules banning most political activity.
Passaic Valley, with a $161 million budget, serves more than 1.3 million people, handling the sewage of 48 communities in Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex counties.
According to the attorney general’s office, the three men arrested put PVSC employees to work on a wide variety home improvements on their homes — or in the case of Ardis, at the homes of his mother and a girlfriend — during hours those employees were supposed to be on the job.
"These defendants allegedly used their supervisory positions at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to require subordinates to complete home improvements for them while on the job for this public agency," said Attorney General Paula Dow.
Investigators said the workers used PVSC equipment, tools and vehicles to travel to the homes and complete the repairs and improvements. They were not paid for any of the work, authorities said.
The work at Ardis’ house included the tear-down of wallboard in a garage, installation of wood paneling and repairs around the house, according to the attorney general.
Keogh, who now lives in Roseland, allegedly had employees install replacement windows at his home and install new kitchen cabinet doors fabricated in a PVSC woodshop.
Mazza had workers install a roof vent or fan in the roof of his home and repair an outside wall, also while they were on their regular shifts for the PVSC.
The charges of second-degree official misconduct carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
All three, who each had strong political connections, rose quickly through the PVSC hierarchy over the years, to high positions in the agency.
Ardis was first appointed as a PVSC commissioner in 2002 while working for Rep. William Pascrell (D-Passaic) as his district director. Three years later, he was hired by his fellow board members — who make $10,000 a year — to a far more lucrative post as director of management services and clerk to the board.
Ardis, who also served as the commission’s ethics officer, was being paid $220,443, until he asked for a salary reduction late last year that brought him down to $207,943 amid growing questions over the PVSC payroll. He also had an agency issued Ford Expedition SUV to drive.
Keogh, a former Democratic West Orange councilman who now lives in Roseland, was first hired as a safety inspector at a salary of $48,633 in 1999. Until his termination, he was being paid $186,201 as superintendent of special services for the commission, overseeing the safety department, training, the vehicle maintenance department, and the river restoration program. He had a PVSC car at his disposal as well — a 2009 Dodge Durango.
Mazza, who retired from the State Police as a detective sergeant in 1985, had ties to former Passaic County GOP Chairman Peter Murphy and had worked for the county’s utilities authority as chief of enforcement. He was hired by PVSC in 1999 as a safety officer, later becoming superintendent of safety and then assistant superintendent of special services, with a $127,276 salary that more than doubled in the past ten years. Mazza also had a Dodge Durango assigned to him.
Forrest said the three men were at-will employees and were all terminated after the arrests.
"We are continuing our efforts to restore the public’s trust and confidence in this agency — especially the public we serve," said Forrest, who has begun a reorganization of the agency.
The inquiry into the PVSC, meanwhile, remains ongoing.
"We are continuing our investigation into allegations of misuse of public resources at this agency," said Stephen J. Taylor, director of the Division of Criminal Justice.