Politics & Government

Brick Council Set to Pick New BTMUA Commissioner Tuesday

New commissioner will replace Joseph Veni, who resigned in the wake of an e-mail scandal

The Brick Township Council will vote Tuesday to appoint a new commissioner to the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, according to a meeting agenda published by the township.

The new commissioner being considered, whose name was not published along with the meeting agenda, will replace Joseph Veni, who resigned in the wake of a scandal involving alleged explicit e-mails he sent from a county-owned computer.

Though technically nonpartisan, the BTMUA commissioners are often aligned with township Republicans or Democrats. Veni, who was aligned with the Republicans, also lost out on at least $150,000 in county consulting contracts after the story broke. His use of a county computer was part of his consulting contracts with the county, officials have said.

The e-mails had been sought under an Open Public Records Act request filed by the Asbury Park Press in the wake of Veni being referenced in a lawsuit that names Freeholder Director Joseph Vicari. According to the Press report, Veni was accused in the lawsuit of holding conversations with an employee over his sexual preferences and once forcing a kiss on a female employee after biting off half of a cookie she was eating.

The person who is selected by the current, all-Democrat township council will serve out the remainder of Veni's term, which ends Jan. 31, 2015.

Because of BTMUA policies, the new commissioner will be eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits and a stipend, though the Democratic majority on council has, thus far, had an informal policy of appointing commissioners who chose not to take the health benefits.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here