HOWELL – Township Council members have authorized the appointment of attorneys to represent Howell’s mayor, three council members and a former mayor as a federal investigation advances.
On March 6, special counsel was appointed for Mayor Theresa Berger, Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell, Councilman Bob Walsh, Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro and former mayor William Gotto.
The matter involves Congregation Kollel, which has filed a lawsuit against Howell in connection with an application to establish a religious school at 344 Old Ford Road. Plans call for the construction of a 17,240-square-foot building with classrooms, a 19,000-square-foot dormitory and seven homes on the 10-acre tract.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether any actions taken by the township burdened the applicant’s right to the free exercise of religion.
As part of the investigation, representatives of the Department of Justice have asked for emails from the private accounts of Gotto and current council members. The emails will be searched for keywords provided by the department and reviewed for relevance and privilege by counsel for the township; responsive documents will be produced to the department, according to Howell Director of Law Joseph Clark.
Clark said Berger, Nicastro, O’Donnell, Walsh and Gotto asked for individual counsel to be appointed to monitor the search of their private email accounts.
“As current and former elected officials, state statutes entitle them to have individual counsel at this time. At its March 6 meeting, the Township Council approved the appointment of individual counsel, subject to a cap on both the hourly rate to be charged and the total amount to be billed. The township intends to seek reimbursement from its insurer for fees that are paid for individual counsel,” Clark said.
In other business on March 6, the council introduced two ordinances and set March 20 as the date for a public hearing on each ordinance and a possible vote for adoption of the new laws.
The first ordinance relates to the Agricultural Rural Estate-1 zone and establishes limits for impervious coverage. The proposed ordinance will be reviewed by the Planning Board, which will determine if the law is consistent with Howell’s master plan.
The second ordinance relates to an abandoned use of a specific property and states that “a nonconforming use shall be adjudged abandoned when there occurs an intention to abandon and some overt act or failure to act which carries a sufficient implication that the owner neither claims nor retains any interest in the subject matter of the abandonment.”
