MANALAPAN — A state board has dismissed allegations of unethical behavior that were made against Township Committeeman Andrew Lucas earlier this year.
The allegations surrounded Lucas’ attempt to place a 96-acre piece of property on Iron Ore Road, Manalapan, into the farmland preservation program. The program is funded by a combination of state, county and local money.
In January, Manalapan resident and former mayor George Spodak filed an ethics complaint relating to Lucas’ application with the Division of Local Government Services.
Spodak’s complaint eventually went before the Local Finance Board. In a Sept. 13 letter to Lucas from Thomas H. Neff, chairman of the board, Neff states the board determined that nothing Lucas did during the time he was applying for farmland preservation funding was inappropriate or unethical.
Lucas confirmed that he received the letter from Neff and he told the News Transcript, “I am thankful that the Local Finance Board confirmed what I have stated multiple times over the course of the past three years, that I never took any action that would have jeopardized Manalapan’s farmland preservation program.
“Now that this agency, which is the seventh to look into my farmland preservation application, has pronounced the meritless, baseless claims to be without merit, I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Township Committee to fight overdevelopment and protect our taxpayers,” he said.
Spodak told the News Transcript, “I am appalled at the decision of the Local Finance Board to give Andrew Lucas $1.1 million of taxpayer money.” Spodak said he has written to Neff to ask how the board’s decision may be appealed.
Spodak’s complaint alleged that Lucas acted in his official capacity to directly advance an application for benefits funded by Manalapan’s open space trust fund.
Neff wrote that although Lucas was serving on the Township Committee at the time he applied for farmland preservation funding, he had the right, just as any other individual, to do so.
Neff said Lucas “appropriately recused [himself] from any official role in proceedings at which [his] application was heard and so these allegations were found by the board to be unsubstantiated.”
The complaint also alleged that Lucas violated the Local Government Ethics Law by participating, in his official capacity, in the consideration of four applications by other property owners for open space trust fund money. Spodak alleged that Lucas’ participation in these matters benefited his own application.
Neff wrote that the board investigated the allegation that Lucas’ presence at executive and public meetings where the four other applications were considered resulted in his own application obtaining a better chance of success. Neff wrote that the board found no violation of the Local Government Ethics Law.
Finally, Neff wrote that “prior to being present at various meetings where the four applications were discussed, [Lucas] relied on the advice of the township attorney that [Lucas’] presence would not be prohibited by the Local Government Ethics Law. Different attorneys may have come to different conclusions due to the unique set of facts in this matter, but the attorney’s conclusion was not an unreasonable one. … The board voted to find no violation of the Local Government Ethics Law.”
However, Neff said that going forward, “local officials shall recuse themselves from any involvement in the consideration of applications that draw upon a particular source of funding when the official intends to submit an application, or has already submitted an application, that would draw upon the same source of funding.”
At its meeting on Sept. 27, the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) voted to grant final approval to Lucas’ farmland preservation application, according to SADC spokeswoman Hope Gruzlovic.
“You will recall the SADC had postponed final approval on this application to allow the Local Finance Board to examine allegations of conflict of interest that had been raised. The Local Finance Board … issued a notice of dismissal, finding no violation of the Local Government Ethics Law. With that issue addressed by the appropriate ethics agency, the SADC granted the application final approval,” Gruzlovic said.
Final approval means that Monmouth County can proceed with the appropriate work to move the application to closing (securing title, survey, etc.), she added.
A combination of state, county and township funds totaling $1.1 million is expected to eventually be paid to Lucas, who will sell a development easement on the property of Diamond Developers at Burke Farm on Iron Ore Road. Lucas controls the farm.
The government’s purchase of a development easement means that the farm will only be permitted to be used for agricultural purposes.
— Contact Mark Rosman at [email protected]