By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Mercer County Park Commission executive director Kevin B. Bannon was fired Wednesday without a reason given for his ouster at a time when the Attorney General’s Office is in the midst of a criminal investigation of the county department.
Mr. Bannon, a former college men’s basketball coach, had worked for Mercer since 2004, but he went on a voluntary paid leave of absence shortly after the Attorney General’s Office raided the commission offices in West Windsor and Hopewell on April 26. He earned a salary of $135,275.
He did not attend Wednesday’s Park Commission meeting, where commissioners voted for a firing that is effective June 30. Commissioner Carmen Corcoran was the only member to vote no, while Commissioner Phil Voorhees abstained.
“An action was taken by the Park Commission today that signals a change in direction and is a decision I support,” county executive Brian M. Hughes said in a statement issued immediately after the vote.
He said the commission would continue to be led by interim-director Aaron T. Watson.
Mr. Bannon’s lawyer, Jack Furlong, attend the meeting and told reporters afterward that he did not why Mr. Bannon was let go.
“Kevin has been the victim of a significant whisper campaign that is not uncommon when an aggressive manager gets involved in a government agency,” Mr. Furlong said. “He’s distraught. He’s under a severe amount of stress.”
County spokeswoman Julie Willmot, who also attended the meeting, said afterward that the county could not give a reason for the dismissal.
The county has not decided whether to pay Mr. Bannon for his unused sick and vacation days, said county counsel Arthur R. Sypek Jr. after the meeting.
The Attorney General’s Office has not publicly acknowledged that it is investigating the Park Commission and a nonprofit, Friends of Mercer County Parks, or who the target or targets of the probe are. But the commission board hired a law firm, Rider, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti, for $100,000 to handle criminal defense work to represent any employees who are interviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.
This is the second fall from grace for Mr. Bannon, having been fired in 2001 as the basketball coach of Rutgers University. He had a losing record during his tenure, but his time there might be best remembered for when two players and a student manager had to run naked sprints because they lost a free throw shooting contest.
