Board clears Neary’s name in bank dealing

Mayor asked ethics panel to review matter involving property sale

BY VINCENT TODARO

Staff Writer

Mayor William Neary did nothing wrong with regard to the sale of his Dairy Queen property to Commerce Bank, East Brunswick’s Ethical Standards Board has found.

Amid questions that have arisen since last year’s property sale, Neary asked the ethics board, which is headed by East Brunswick Jewish Center Rabbi Chaim Rogoff, to investigate the situation last April. The Democratic mayor has disputed the idea that he engaged in any wrongdoing regarding the sale, the Planning Board’s approval of a Commerce Bank branch on the site, and the switch of the township’s banking services from PNC Bank to Commerce Bank.

Neary has repeatedly been questioned publicly at Township Council meetings, often by a retired state police captain now seeking a council seat as a Republican, regarding the ethics of the situation and if there was a link between the sale and the other actions.

But the ethics report, written to Neary, holds that he acted properly regarding the sale and the switch of banking accounts, which took place in 2002.

“There is no connection between the Commerce Bank and East Brunswick Township’s relationship and the sale of your Dairy Queen business,” the board wrote to Neary.

The board says it reviewed dozens of documents from the Department of Finance, Commerce Bank, PNC Bank, the municipal employees’ union and the Planning Board, as well as newspaper articles. The investigation also involved informal interviews with the township’s chief financial director, L. Mason Neely, PNC Bank Vice President Avo Reinfeld, Market President of Commerce Bank Fred Graziano and Township Attorney Michael Baker.

The letter says the board found a “definitive chronology, along with a definitive paper trail, and a detailed record of both of these transactions. The members of the Ethical Standards Board unanimously endorsed the results of our investigation into both of these matters.”

Specifically, the board found Neary’s role in the changing of bank accounts was either “nonexistent or totally insignificant.” Neary has said that it was Baker, Neely and Business Administrator James White who handled the negotiations, and he was not involved.

“Any assertion to the contrary is either nonsense or a fabrication,” the board concludes.

Township officials have said the bank accounts were switched in order to save the town money. The contract with Commerce Bank expires later this year, and Republicans have called for the township to cease its relationship with the bank due largely to the recent indictments of bank officials and their highly publicized dealings with politicians throughout the region.

Regarding Neary’s former property, the ethics board found that both parties contemplated the sale before the township issued a request for banking account proposals, and the price was set in the “normal manner of such real estate transactions using appraisals and comparative property listings and sales, commonly known as ‘comps.’ ”

Additionally, the board stated that the price of Neary’s Milltown Road property may have been “undervalued.”

Neary received more for his property than two surrounding properties also sold to Commerce Bank. Though all three were of similar size, Neary’s sold for $600,000, while the other two sites went for $395,000 and $380,000.

Neary has said that his was worth more because it was the site of an operating business and was the middle piece of the land the bank needed.

The Planning Board, most of whose members are appointed by the mayor, approved Commerce Bank’s application for the property in April 2003, leading to a lawsuit from Matzel & Mumford, which was building an adjacent housing development. The developer stated that too much relief was granted to Commerce Bank and that its branch would infringe on the residences being built behind it. The lawsuit was settled, with the bank agreeing to further landscaping and fencing on its property.

The ethics board also said that Walter Decker, the retired state police official running for council, was asked to appear before the board but declined, saying he had no knowledge regarding the nature of the board.

During Monday’s council meeting, Decker addressed some comments made by Democratic officials in responding to his questions and comments. He said he was not involved in internal affairs with the state police, but rather headed a unit that investigated organized crime and corruption.

He also said he has not painted anything with a “broad brush” and has not accused anyone of wrongdoing, but simply asked questions regarding curious circumstances and sought open government.

Decker also said he will continue to ask questions and seek information. He said he learned as an investigator to see how the “pieces of the puzzle” fit.

The ethics board’s report, along with related documents and transcripts, are available at the township clerk’s office.