NEWARK — Three former administrators and a former shop foreman from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners were indicted today on charges of using subordinates to help with home repairs while they were supposed to be at work. Three of the men had earlier been charged through criminal complaints brought by the state. The indictments—which were announced by Attorney General...
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission building in Newark.NEWARK — Three former administrators and a former shop foreman from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners were indicted today on charges of using subordinates to help with home repairs while they were supposed to be at work.
Three of the men had earlier been charged through criminal complaints brought by the state. The indictments—which were announced by Attorney General Paula Dow—came out of a state grand jury and added the name of a former foreman.
Charged were Anthony Ardis, 57, of Paterson, a former PVSC commissioner who later served as clerk to the board and its chief ethics officer; Kevin Keogh, 45, of Roseland, the former superintendent for special services; Chester Mazza, 70, of Totowa, a former assistant superintendent for special services; and Paul Bazela, 44, of the mayor of Northvale and former foreman of the PVSC carpenter’s shop.
Ardis, Keogh and Mazza were terminated following their arrests in February. Bazela was fired earlier this year. If convicted, he would be required to forfeit his job as mayor.
Officials with the state said Bazela, at the direction of Ardis and Keogh, ordered carpenters and other workers he supervised to go to the homes of Keogh and Ardis’ mother and girlfriend while on agency time to complete repairs and improvements using agency vehicles and equipment.
Bazela also allegedly accompanied workers to supervise and assist with the projects.
The state charged that Mazza directed two employees for the PVSC to install a vent or fan in the roof of his home in Totowa and make repairs to a masonry wall in front of Mazza’s home while on agency time,
None of them paid for the work.
Stephen Taylor, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, said the four stole from the public by allegedly taking PVSC employees away during their regular shifts to serve as their personal handymen.
“They are also charged with theft for treating agency vehicles, tools and equipment like their own property,” he said.
Passaic Valley, with a $161 million budget, serves more than 1.3 million people, handling the sewage of 48 communities in Essex, Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties. The agency became the focus of state investigators following revelations of widespread abuse, sweetheart deals and unchecked patronage detailed in a series of stories in The Star-Ledger earlier this year.
Those stories led to the removal of six of the commission's seven board members by Gov. Chris Christie.
Related coverage:
• Gov. Christie fires 71 Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners employees
• Top financial officer of Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners resigns, 5 employees are fired
• Political contributions from workers at Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners exceed $100K
• Records reveal Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission a gold mine for insiders