Mayor of Northvale among those indicted for allegedly using PVSC workers as their personal handymen
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission building in Newark.NEWARK — The mayor of Northvale — a one-time operations supervisor for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners — was indicted Wednesday along with three other former high-level administrators, charged with using PVSC workers as their personal handymen.
Stephen Taylor, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said the four stole from the public by taking employees away from regular shifts to do work on their homes, or those of friends and family.
"They are also charged with theft for treating agency vehicles, tools and equipment like their own property," Taylor said.
Paul Bazela, 44, who is currently mayor of the small Bergen County borough of Northvale, was making $109,600 as an operations supervisor for the PVSC until he was fired earlier this year as part of an agency shake-up.
The three others indicted by a state grand jury Wednesday had all been charged earlier in separate criminal complaints and were terminated in February after their arrests. They included Anthony Ardis, 57, of Paterson, a former PVSC commissioner who later served as clerk to the board and its chief ethics officer, and made $214,000 a year; Kevin Keogh, 45, of Roseland, a former West Orange councilman and PVSC’s one-time superintendent for special services, who made $186,000 a year; and Chester Mazza, 70, of Totowa, a former State Trooper who served as the agency’s assistant superintendent for special services at a salary of $127,000 a year.
The three are free on $75,000 bail.
According to the state Attorney General’s office, 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. 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.
Kevin Keogh, 45; Anthony Ardis, 57; and Chester Mazza, 70, former officials at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, have been indicted.None of those charged Wednesday had paid for the work, officials said.
Bazela has no intention of resigning as mayor, said his attorney, John A. Young of Jersey City.
"We don’t believe Paul engaged in any criminal activity," he said. "We’re going to pursue a vigorous defense."
Mazza’s attorney, George J. Abdy of Totowa, said the allegations against his client were no different than the use of a state helicopter by Gov. Chris Christie to attend his son’s baseball game.
"I’m not admitting any wrongdoing, but the more and more I read about it, what the hell’s the difference here?" asked Abdy. An attorney for Keogh said she had not seen the indictment and would have no comment. An attorney for Ardis could not be reached.
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