Council votes Devlin off ACMUA board after 6-hour Wednesday night hearing – Press of Atlantic City

The votes to remove Devlin came from Council President George Tibbitt, Vice President Kaleem Shabazz, Councilwoman Stephanie Marshall, and Councilman Mohammad Zia.

Voting against removal were Councilman Jesse Kurtz, who nominated Devlin to the ACMUA board, Councilwoman La’Toya Dunston and Councilman Bruce Weekes.

Tuesday night’s hearing went on for 5½ acrimonious hours, and the Wednesday hearing started out more civil but got much less so by the vote almost 6 hours later.

Both nights the hearings were held during special City Council meetings. 

Devlin’s attorney, David Castellani, began his case in defense of Devlin on Wednesday with testimony from an insurance broker to the board, and a fellow board member, both of whom described Devlin as an organized board leader and spirited debater, but denied his manner was bullying or inappropriate.

Devlin himself began his testimony at about 8:15 p.m.

In the Tuesday night hearing George Frino, the attorney arguing for removal, put on his case. Frino said Devlin had attempted to undermine the efficiency and orderly operation of the authority through improper influence on the selection of vendors and other means.

“It was directed at three prominent members of the community who served as executive director. The only remedy is removal of the chair,” Frino said.

Also Tuesday, lawyers arguing for and against removing Devlin, a retired Atlantic City police officer, often accused each other of using unfair and unethical tactics.

Council is charged with appointing ACMUA members and is the only body that can remove board members for cause.

The Tuesday hearing quickly disintegrated into sniping and sometimes hollering by attorneys, with city attorney Robert Tarver occasionally muting another attorney’s microphone.

The first witness Tuesday was former ACMUA Executive Director Bruce Ward, who retired almost two years ago. He accused Devlin of improperly interfering with ACMUA business and hindering Ward’s plans to install a solar facility Ward said would save the utility $1 million a year.

Castellani objected repeatedly as Ward brought up issues Castellani said were never raised in complaint letters to the state Department of Community Affairs or shared with Devlin and Castellani.

“Give us notice so we can prepare an adequate defense,” Castellani said at one point.

Frino said the letters broadly addressed issues, without specifically laying out some of the specific cases.

Ward also said Devlin tried to force the ACMUA to hire a private security firm, while Ward felt the assistance it got from the Office of Homeland Security was sufficient.

But Ward never said how Devlin ended the solar plans, and seemed to say the private security firm was never hired.

Castellani said Devlin was not a rubber stamp for whatever the staff wanted to do at the ACMUA, and was simply doing his job by engaging in debate about how the ACMUA should conduct its business.

“These allegations on their best day do not constitute neglect or acting against the interest of the ACMUA,” Castellani said.

Instead, they are a result of executive directors “seeking not only to chill Mr. Devlin but other board members from questioning … seeking to chill their debating issues rather than serving as rubber stamp to the executive director.”

Also testifying Tuesday were interim ACMUA Executive Director Claude Smith, who served for about a year until early 2021, and current Executive Director Michael Armstrong.

Smith accused Devlin of bullying and harassing Smith and other staff, and Armstrong described what he called ways in which Devlin improperly interfered with ACMUA staff and business.

In December, Devlin almost kept the authority from enacting a contract with Fairview Insurance of Verona, Essex County — which could have left the authority without insurance coverage for a time — because he favored using a local insurance broker, Siracusa-Kaufman Insurance Agency, Armstrong said.

According to the web site Open Secrets, Fairview is a big Democratic political donor in New Jersey, giving $182,000 to national and state candidates and groups in 2020 through its PACs and employees.

Siracusa has been the broker for the ACMUA for 25 years but failed to bid for the 2022 contract, Castellani said.

Gene Siracusa of the Siracusa insurance firm said Wednesday night the Fairview quote was $30,000 more expensive than the quote he had prepared, but Siracusa didn’t submit because he is a broker not a consultant.

Siracusa said he called repeatedly to ask for clarification on the RFP but never got a response from Armstrong.

“I felt during the whole process I was being iced out of it,” Siracusa said. “They were not giving me information purposely, to have me not put a bid in.”

Castellani said the language was confusing, but Armstrong said the terms consultant and broker are interchangeable.

Devlin has alleged the move against him is politically motivated by his criticism of Mayor Marty Small Sr., and that he cannot get a fair hearing from council members who are allied with Small.

Last month, Superior Court Judge James P. Savio, in response to a lawsuit by Devlin, refused to stop council from holding a hearing to potentially remove Devlin but did postpone it from its originally scheduled date of Jan. 25.

In another special meeting Jan. 7, council voted 5-3 to hold the hearing to potentially remove Devlin.

Devlin, a longtime school board member, has criticized the district’s handling of a child pornography case involving a substitute teacher who is a cousin of Small’s wife, La’Quetta. La’Quetta Small is now superintendent of the city’s schools.