Officials angered by Nydam's pension request Former public works director doesn't deserve any money, mayor says BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Former Public Works Director John H. Nydam has applied for pension benefits, despite his guilty plea to official misconduct earlier this year. John H. Nydam The state Division of Pensions and Benefits is slated to discuss his pension status at a June 18 hearing in Trenton, said Thomas Bell, a state Treasury Department spokesman. "How dare he?" council President Ruthanne Scaturro said. "I just think he did such a disservice to the people of Brick Township. He was the start of the black cloud. To think he has the audacity to apply for his pension is just ridiculous to me." The pension board will consider the state's "Honorable Services" statute, which can affect an applicant's pension benefits, Bell said. "Someone could lose their benefits because of inappropriate conduct," Bell said, speaking generally. "All pensions have to be reviewed and approved by the pension board, and they take the honorable services statute into consideration." The statute requires the pension board to consider a number of factors, including the nature of misconduct or crime, the gravity or substantiality of the offense, the relationship between the misconduct and the member's public duties, whether it was a single or multiple offense and the employee or official's motives and personal gain. "Nothing surprises me when it comes to money and people," Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said. "Any government employee, appointed or elected official who is found guilty of any type of official misconduct or corruption stemming from his work in office should not be allowed to receive a pension." Nydam, who served as public works director for 14 years, pleaded guilty to official misconduct, theft and witness tampering on April 3, 2006. But Nydam was sentenced to five years probation because of his "very substantial" cooperation with the FBI and law enforcement authorities in the corruption investigation of former longtime Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli. Scarpelli is serving an 18-month sentence in federal prison in Fort Dix for accepting bribes from an unnamed developer. Former Democratic Mayor Daniel F. Newman wrote to Scaturro twice over the past fewmonths, asking the council to pass a resolution to the state Director of Pensions and Benefits urging that Nydam be denied any pension benefits. Newman said he got no response to his first letter, dated Feb. 28. He sent a followup letter to Scaturro on March 28. "I am extremely disappointed and deeply hurt that with the exception of comments made by newly elected Councilman Brian DeLuca at a public council meeting, my letter addressing this matter has been virtually ignored by you and othermembers of the council," Newman said in the letter. Scaturro said Monday she didn't get respond to Newman because the council had already passed a resolution in January 2007 asking that pension benefits be denied any public official found guilty of a crime. "He can readmy response in the paper," she said. Scaturro brought up Newman's letter at the April 8 Township Council meeting and noted that a resolution had already been passed. "We were ahead of our time," Scaturro said at the meeting. "It's been done. I don't think we have to be redundant and do it again. I certainly would like our former mayor to know we acted well before his request. He should be thankful our council is so active in doing things, rather than waiting around to react to it." Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras questioned whether Nydam had enough time in the public pension system to begin collecting one. "I'm not sure he had even accrued enough time to apply for pension benefits," Pezarras said. Any benefits Nydam had with Brick Township ended the day he was terminated, Pezarras said. "He's done as far as Brick's concerned," he said. Nydam's public downfall began on Aug. 10, 2004, when a resident told Township Councilmembers he saw township employees take down a chain link fence at a park onManor Drive and replace it with a boardon board fence. There was no permit on file for the fence, which bordered Nydam's property. Scarpelli suspended Nydam for 30 days and ordered himto reimburse the township for the fence. Scarpelli said after Nydam's plea that he didn't think any other Brick officials would be charged in the investigation. Nydam was indirectly named in a July 2006 indictment involving the co-owners of International Trucks of Central Jersey. He was not named in the indictment, which refers to Brick's public works director. Nydam took a total of $3,000 in bribes on two occasions and took several trips with the co-owners. The co-owners recouped the cost of the trips by inflating the price of vehicles sold to the township, according to the indictment. Lance Hadley, a local landscaping contractor, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to bribingNydamwith two separate checks of $2,000 apiece. In exchange, Nydam threw more than $40,000 in no-bid snowplowing contracts his way, the indictment states. State County Superior Court Judge James A. Citta, sitting in Toms River, sentenced Nydam to five years probation in February.