Concerned that former Township Councilman Mark Holmes may have been improperly reimbursed for expenses while serving on the governing body, the two Republican Party candidates for Township Council ha
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Concerned that former Township Councilman Mark Holmes may have been improperly reimbursed for expenses while serving on the governing body, the two Republican Party candidates for Township Council have requested township officials to “audit” his spending and reimbursements.
Republican Party candidates Max Ramos and Glenn Collins requested the audit after learning that Mr. Holmes has been charged by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office with theft by deception for allegedly embezzling about $75,000 from the Asbury Park Housing Authority while he was the executive director from November 2008 to June 2011.
In a July 20 letter to Mayor Jim Kownacki, Mr. Ramos wrote that “as a taxpaying resident, I am concerned” about the allegations of theft leveled against Mr. Holmes. He wrote that “such an audit is necessary to ensure that the taxpayers of Lawrence were not victims of a similar scheme.”
But Lawrence Township officials have already reviewed spending and reimbursements for Mr. Holmes, who served on Township Council from 1998 to 2008. The review showed reimbursements of $2,000.36 made directly to Mr. Holmes from 2005 to 2008, and $6,412.03 to vendors for expenses from 2004 to 2008.
The review was ordered on July 25, 2011, after Mr. Holmes resigned from his position as the Asbury Park Housing Authority’s executive director, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said. He ordered the review of spending after learning in June 2011 that Mr. Holmes was being investigated for allegations of misuse of state and federal funds.
”We didn’t wait. It was what I viewed as an appropriate response, given the subject matter that was being reported in press articles. Since that time, we have never been contacted by any agency in or out of law enforcement for records relating to Mr. Holmes,” Mr. Krawczun said.
Mr. Holmes has been accused of diverting more than $75,000 in state grant funds, collecting reimbursements for unauthorized meals, and double-dipping on per diem payments when traveling while he was the housing authority’s executive director.
”The allegations against Mr. Holmes talk about alleged activity that to the best of our knowledge did not occur here in Lawrence Township,” Mr. Krawczun said.
Township Council members are not issued credit cards or debit cards linked to municipal accounts and they do not have direct access to township funds, he added.
Mr. Krawczun said the township’s review covers 2004 to 2008. The township does not have records of reimbursements prior to 2004 because “hard copies” may be destroyed after six years, with permission from the state Division of Archives and Records Management. The records are destroyed because there is not enough space to store them, he said.
The township’s purchasing system keeps electronic records for 10 years and then purges them, because of the software design, Mr. Krawczun said. If a purchase order is entered and there is a need to cancel or delete it, the system records the cancellation but does not delete the original activity, he said.
Meanwhile, the review of payments made directly to Mr. Holmes include $456 for hotel and mileage expenses in 2005; none in 2006; $796.46 for hotel, mileage, tolls, parking and eyeglasses in 2007; and $747.90 for hotel, mileage, parking, eyeglasses and meals in 2008. The hotel and mileage reimbursements were made in connection with conference attendance.
Township Council members formerly were eligible for health benefits, and that’s why Mr. Holmes was able to seek reimbursement for the cost of eyeglasses, Mr. Krawczun said. The council members are no longer eligible for health benefits.
Payments of $6,412.03 were made to vendors on behalf of Mr. Holmes between 2004 and 2008. This included $902 in 2004 for registration fees for conferences and meetings, and a hotel stay for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities convention.
In 2005, vendors were paid $791 for hotels for the Governor’s Conference on Housing and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities convention, plus registration fees and food, and the New Jersey League of Municipalities publication.
For 2006, vendor fees were $479 that included registration fees, food and a three-night hotel stay for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities convention, and the New Jersey League of Municipalities publication, according to township records.
Vendors were paid $1,024 in 2007 for expenses including registration fees for the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities convention, plus hotel fees and food.
And for Mr. Holmes’ final year on Township Council in 2008, $3,216.03 in vendor payments were made for food, expenses related to the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s visit to Washington, D.C., registration and hotel expenses for the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and the Governor’s Conference on Housing, and registration fees for the National Conference of Black Mayors.

