NORTH JERSEY – According to a report today from a Hudson County daily newspaper, Gov. Christopher Christie has suspended six members of the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission, including Carl Czaplicki Jr., who also works as the director of the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development & Commerce.
Czaplicki and the others were suspended without pay and have been given until Jan. 27 to resign from the commission. According to the newspaper, those who do not step down must appear before the Office of Employee Relations on Jan. 31 where they will be told of the charges pending against them.
Christie has accused the six suspended commissioners of nepotism and has alleged that they hired several family members to work for the sewage authority and awarded no-bid contracts, according to the newspaper.
The Passaic Valley Sewage Commission oversees the sewage processing for 48 northern New Jersey municipalities, including ones in Hudson County. With an annual budget of $161 million, according to the newspaper, the commission runs New Jersey’s largest sewage treatment plant.
Gov. Christie’s action comes on the heels of an investigative report by the Star-Ledger newspaper earlier this month.
The other five people who were suspended Tuesday along with Czaplicki were, according to the newspaper, Passaic Valley Sewage Commission Chairman Anthony Luna, Frank Calandriello, Angelina Paserchia, William Flynn, and Thomas Powell. Commissioner Kenneth Lucianin was the only commissioner who was not suspended by the governor.