Crabb, Vohden, Mudrick appoint crony to top job

Earlier this year, Sussex County Human Services Administrator Stephen Gruchacz, aged 67, was telling people that he was all set to retire.  Many believed that Gruchacz would be the fifth top county bureaucrat to hand in his resignation in the aftermath of the county's solar debacle. 

Instead, three of the five county freeholders got around the State's Open Public Meetings Act to successfully negotiate a deal with Gruchacz to stay on -- provided he got a promotion and a 22% salary increase.  At Wednesday's meeting of the county's Freeholder Board, Gruchacz was appointed County Administrator, Sussex County's top unelected bureaucrat, on a 3-2 vote (Crabb, Vohden, Mudrick voted yes; Phoebus and Graham voted no).

Of course, the $30,000-per-year salary increase the three Freeholders gave Gruchacz came with a three-year contract.  In effect, they gave him a pension boost as well.  It's nice to have friends in high places.  Word has it that the votes of the three Freeholders for Gruchacz were delivered by outgoing County Administrator Johnny "Wildthing" Eskilson. 

On the same day that Freeholder Vohden was insisting that destroying the audio recordings of what he said during the negotiations that led to the solar debacle was nothing more than "following the law",  Vohden led a posse of Crabb and Mudrick in ignoring the County's law that requires the top job be filled by someone residing in Sussex County.  Gruchacz lives in Somerset County and pays his property taxes there.  Taxpayers screwed again.  This man doesn't even feel our pain. 

However, the Gruchacz appointment did make it plain who runs the county -- it's the outgoing County Administrator and the three Freeholders (Vohden, Crabb, and Mudrick) one of whom was just defeated for re-election (Mudrick came in four out of four).  Instead of taking the will of the voters into account, Gruchacz was appointed over the strong objections of the County's legislative delegation, other elected county officials, and numerous local elected officials.

Nobody thought it a good idea to hand Gruchacz a three year contract.  All these elected officials advised giving him no more than an interim contract as provided for by law, but Eskilson got to Crabb who infected Vohden, leaving Mudrick, who just slavishly obeys.  One can only wonder what kind of cooperation the County will get from Trenton after pulling a stunt like this.

At Wednesday's meeting, Freeholder Crabb referred to Gruchacz as "Best of Breed" -- apparently forgetting that the term is used in judging dogs.  On the other hand, this might well be a real dog of an appointment. 

Bilik spokesman at the center of solar scandal

For anyone who has been following the Sussex solar scandal, today's story in the New Jersey Herald is a must read.  Here are some of the highlights:

The Sussex County freeholder board was told by its top professionals last September about possible collusion, criminal activity and the fraudulent use of money from the county's $28 million solar initiative to pay for lawyers, debt service and other expenses unrelated to the actual project costs.
However, rather than bring the evidence to the attention of law enforcement, county officials — under then-Freeholder Director Richard Vohden — proceeded toward a settlement with a “hold harmless” provision that exempted the architects of the deal from having to make restitution for damages or misspent funds.
Under the provision, the county would have no means of seeking redress or recovering further damages even if laws were broken. While the controversy over the settlement's “hold harmless” clause is not new, the revelation that county officials considered that federal and state laws may have been violated is.

Richard Vohden has appeared in commercials and campaign literature for Marie Bilik.  He is also a frequent Bilik spokesman.

However, the concerns about misuse of funds were enough that Freeholders George Graham and Gail Phoebus inquired during the September closed session as to whether the diversion could be considered criminal in nature.

... Acknowledging the concerns about criminal activity raised by Graham and Phoebus, County Counsel Dennis McConnell responded that “it (Sussex County) is aware of the potential and that complicates everything.”

Vohden called the criminal investigation into the wrongdoing "political theater."

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.njherald.com/story/29199152/2015/05/31/solar-project-payments-may-have-skirted-federal-law

How the whisper campaign costs taxpayers

County politics in Sussex County was once a village.  It was more than close knit, it was closed.  This presented a problem for reformers.  In closed societies, people tend to overlook the corrupt practices of others, so as not to rock the boat.  Go along to get along.

The problem with this is that corruption ends up costing everyone who pays taxes -- everyone that is except the people making money off the corruption.

In closed societies like this anyone who identifies or even talks about problems is considered "impolite".  Steve Oroho was impolite in 2004 and especially so in 2007.  Parker Space was impolite in 2010 and Gail Phoebus in 2012.  Space, Phoebus, and George Graham have been very impolite this year, because they asked that a deal that was sold to the Freeholder Board with false promises be investigated and that those who made money by ripping-off Sussex County taxpayers be held to account.

Reform is Rude in Sussex County.  At least as far as the county's political  class is concerned.  The fact that all of those mentioned above romped to victory (some by big upsets) indicates that most residents of Sussex County do not share the same opinions as the county's political class.

When he was United States Attorney, Chris Christie used to talk about the "corruption tax".  This was the extra-cost to taxpayers that came from the single-bid wired for a political insider or from hiring someone "connected" instead of someone competent.

Because it is such a closed society, county politics in Sussex County was once largely controlled by an exclusive group whose business was politics.  That is how they made their money.  Turnout at elections was low and campaigns were conducted mouth to mouth, whisper to whisper, for in politics here it is rare for people to be straight with you.  To your face it is all smiles, behind your back, it's the whispers.

And then along came Steve Oroho.  He hired a consultant who worked with him to expand the number of residents who participated in politics.  Turnout at elections went up and the mouth to mouth campaign counted for less.  No longer could you get over on someone by pretending to like him while helping his opponent, because it didn't matter as much.

Steve Oroho opened the door to allow new people to participate and voter turnout went up.  It also let the fresh air of reform in. It became safer to speak the truth and identify bad practices.

There are those who long for the days when they could ostracize anyone who dared blow the whistle on corruption, theft, or malfeasance.   Those days are gone and, though some may try, they will not come back. 

The voters will not allow the county political class to steal their government from them.  They will not be content to "shut up and pay" ever rising taxes so that this "wired" county politico can get a no-show job in order to qualify for a state pension.  They will not "shut up and pay" so that local elected officials can be a sales reps for vendors who demand government use a product that nobody asked for.  This is the past and those who benefitted from these corrupt practices had better get used to it.

Phoebus and Graham were right

An important news story by Ben Horowitz and Seth Augenstein of the Star-Ledger.  A new report shows that the companies behind the Sussex solar mess were culpable.  They do not deserve to be protected by the terms of the bailout, including the "hold harmless clause" and the gag order (non-disparagement clause).

Morris County got the resignations of Gabel and Pearlman.  Sussex County had the opportunity to follow their leadership at Wednesday's Freeholder Board meeting and didn't.  When will they?

Official: Solar project design flaws and site changes led to millions in cost overruns

"Significant" cost overruns occurred in the solar project at the County College of Morris, according to the county's construction administrator. (Courtesy of Sunlight General Capital)

By Ben Horowitz and Seth Augenstein | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 10, 2015 at 9:05 AM, updated April 10, 2015 at 12:32 PM

MORRIS COUNTY — Design drawings that had to be changed, construction that had to be redone and the changing of sites contributed to cost overruns that led to lawsuits resulting in a $66.3 million arbitration award in a three-county solar project that fizzled, according to a report by the project's construction adminstrator.

The cost overruns were part of a 71-project, $88 million solar project bonded by Morris, Somerset and Sussex counties in 2011.

In 2013, the contractor, MasTec, sued the developer, SunLight General, saying it had performed more than $79.2 million worth of "construction services" for solar projects, but had been paid only $33 million by Sunlight, leaving it short by $46.2 million, according to court documents.

In 2014, an arbitrator awarded an even greater sum -- $66.3 million -- to MasTec. That included $59 million SunLight owed MasTec following cost overruns, along with interest.

SunLight was declared in default and the counties, which held the ultimate responsibility for the project, were on the hook for the debt. They settled with MasTec for $21 million in February, effectively bailing out the project.

Earlier this month, Steve Gabel, the head of energy consultant Gabel Associates, and Stephen Pearlman, the Morris County Improvement Authority's attorney who advised on the projects setup, both submitted letters of resignation, effective June 1.

But before leaving, Gabel Associates prepared a report summarizing the causes of the cost overruns. The report was intended to be confidential but was released by the Morris freeholders on Wednesday.

Gabel, describing its role as "liaison" between the various parties to monitor the status of construction, said it did not have authority to approve design drawings or direct the projects.

Discussing problems that led to cost overruns, Gable said in some cases, sites that had been expected to get solar panels could not be included in the program for reasons including "structural inadequacy" and some areas that did not meet SunLight's "shading tolerances."

Cost overruns resulted from the elimination of carport structures at the Randolph Board of Education building and from the Morris School District's decision not to proceed with the program, Gabel said.

Those decisions required the developer and contractor to identify additional projects that could generate another 2 megawatts of electrical power, Gabel said.

There were also problems with MasTec's initial design drawings, Gabel said.

MasTec hired the same engineering design professional, Innovative Engineering Inc., to complete the designs in all three county-wide projects, Gabel said.

That workload "stressed IEI's resources" and "some drawings were in conflict with elements of the National Electrical Code," Gabel said.

Some of the problems included improper sizing of conductors and the running of unfused conductors for lengths greater than permitted by local inspectors, Gabel said.

As a result, proposed changes were sent to IEI and site drawings had to be updated. That resulted in delays in submitting updated drawings to SunLight and delayed the start of projects, Gabel said.

Because "time was of the essence," MasTec directed its contractors to start the field work, "which it did at its own risk as it elected to proceed without approved construction drawings" from SunLight, Gabel said. However, the report added, at no time did electrical contractors perform work that violated standard industry practices or the electrical code.

As a result of these design issues, work was frequently started without approved construction drawings and that led to much of the work "having to be redone" due to SunLight's requirements for material and equipment, Gabel said.

While MasTec had sometimes worked without construction drawings, SunLight was insisting on "enhanced standards" that "went above the normal, accepted practices of the industry," Gabel said.

"Use of the enhanced standards led to cost overruns, especially in light of the fact that much of the work had been completed using other methods and required redoing," according to Gabel.

A "significant" cost overrun occurred at the County College of Morris, Gabel said.

That project had "inadequate design drawings, issues with material delivery (caused by the canopy manufacturer) and problems in the construction of the canopy structures," Gabel said.

Gabel concluded that is findings are "not intended to disparage any party in the Morris Renewable Energy Program, nor does it ... assign fault to any party."

"The report is only intended to provide factual information in response to the request of Morris County for information on the basis of cost overruns," Gabel said.

Morris Freeholder David Scapicchio, who voted against the settlement, called the situation "unbelievable."

"What led to the bulk of the cost overruns was building specifications that were not approved," Scappichio said. "When they finally did get a set of approved drawings, they had to start over."

Scappichio agreed that even though SunLight owed MasTec money, and the counties wound up paying, MasTec was "absolutely at fault" in many areas.

"A lot of stuff was designed improperly," he said.

Scappichio reiterated that it was unfair that the counties wound up "holding the bag" for the mistakes of others, but he acknowledged that was how the contracts were structured.

Officials at SunLight were unavailable for comment on Thursday and officials at MasTec could not be reached.

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2015/04/official_says_problems_with_design_drawings_and_ch.html#incart_river

Crabb, Vohden, Mudrick and the lawyer who got paid big time

That bang you heard yesterday afternoon was the sound of the Crabb-Vohden-Mudrick attack crashing into the woods and burning.  The three little pigs launched a media attack aimed at Freeholders Phoebus and Graham; Assemblyman Space; Senator Oroho; Morris County Freeholders Lyon, Krickus, Scapicchio, and Cesaro; as well as dozens of mayors and local elected officials in Sussex and Morris counties.

 Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick got help from a strange place.  A lawyer named Michael Stein launched a similarly timed attack through a public relations firm hired for the occasion.  What makes it so strange is that Sussex County was battling lawyer Stein in court last September, trying to keep lawyers' hands off $920,000 of taxpayers' money.

In September 2014, attorneys for Sussex County went to court on an effort to stop a payment of $920,000 in legal fees that they said were "inappropriately drawn from monies designated for (the) solar project."  The legal bills came from the dispute between SunLight General and its subcontractor, Power Partners MasTec.  Somehow Sussex County ended up responsible for paying the legal bills for their dispute.

The lawyers who had billed and were  due the money were Stein's firm, Pashman Stein PC, and Cole Schotz Meisel Forman & Leonard PA.  They had already been paid $180,000 so the $920,000 brought them up to a cool $1.1 million.

Sussex County made a strong argument:  "The money so raised was intended solely to construct certain solar energy projects on publicly-owned buildings and publicly-owned land for the ultimate benefit of the citizen taxpayer," the brief said. "As those projects are far from complete, particularly in Sussex County, preservation of the funds is essential. Depleting the funds to pay for attorneys' fees to be incurred in a contractual dispute between the contractor and its subcontractor would be a misuse of those public funds."

Of course,  the judge sided with the lawyers and against the taxpayers.  Another $1.1 million flushed away.

And Freeholder Director Phil Crabb still persists in saying that we shouldn't go back and look into how Sussex County screwed up so bad.  You know who he sounds like, don't you?