Christie's Bold Action Cleans Up Passaic Authority

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the newly empowered Executive Director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners continued today to clean house after years of patronage and other excesses at the PVSC today with the announcement of a wave of at least 71 firings, an overhaul of the organization, the freezing of fees paid to outside attorney and other reforms.
The Governor also renewed his call to the legislature to move a bill with bipartisan backing giving him veto authority over actions of the PVSC.
“The commissioners previously in charge at PVSC perpetuated an endless cycle of misuse of power through unethical hiring practices, gratuitous perks and conflicts of interest, leading to potentially criminal abuses inside the agency,” Governor Christie said. “Those days are over, and the cleanup is in full force under the authority of a proven, ethical and effective executive director. To make it a permanent and effective clean sweep, I and subsequent governors must have the authority of veto power over this agency.
“The now-former Board of Commissioners was either resistant to change or in self-serving denial about the mess they created. The reason for that is obvious: they had no one to answer to or be accountable to. It is now crystal clear that the only way to truly reform the bad practices and bad acts at the PVSC is to start from scratch.”
The Governor stated today that he will not consider new nominees to replace the resigned Commissioners until the legislature grants him and future governors veto power over the authority. The Governor also believes veto power should be extended to other sewerage authorities in the state and specifically to the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.
In mere weeks, more has been done to repair this broken agency – which serves approximately 1.3 million people in 48 municipalities, with a $161 million annual budget – than was done over the course of years. In the short time since the Commissioners have resigned and Wayne Forrest assumed control of the PVSC on January 25, there has been major action to reform the agency, including:

· On February 3, Forrest coordinated with New Jersey State Police to facilitate a top-to-bottom review of security procedures and personnel with renewed focus on law enforcement training.

· February 1, Executive Directive 01-11 was issued, rolling back salaries for all individuals making over $100,000 to December 2009, with $1.4 million in raw salary saved as a result.

· February 1, Executive Directive 03-11 issued:

o Organizes PVSC into three departments: Operations, Engineering, and Administration.

o Reorganization eliminates entire departments, most specifically eliminating the “Special Services” department, which was the seed at the heart of the patronage pit.

· February 1-2, Executive Directives 02-11 and 04-11 issued, revising PVSC ethics policies:

o Adopted Uniform Ethics Code Chapter 5, restricting political activity.

o Adopted Uniform Ethics Code Chapter 3, restricting gifts.

Today, the Governor will go even further to reform and overhaul the PVSC

· Beginning today, all outside counsel spending will be frozen in the absence of express approval from the Executive Director.

· There will be a complete reorganization and overhaul of the PVSC organization that will fundamentally change the culture at the Commissioner for the better.

o 71 positions will be eliminated beginning today.

o The above 71 eliminations are in addition to the 23 separations from PVSC that Executive Director Forrest orchestrated following the Governor’s signing of Executive Order 55.

o Between January 26 and February 6, a total of 23 separations occurred from PVSC:

§ 7 resignations (1 staff; 6 commissioners)

§ 14 terminations

§ 2 retirements

The legislature must pass the bipartisan legislation which gives the Governor necessary veto authority over the PVSC to ensure this pattern of taxpayer abuse doesn’t occur again. The PVSC must be held accountable which is why the legislature needs to take action and give New Jersey taxpayers and PVSA ratepayers the confidence that this betrayal of the public trust will not happen again. Until the legislature passes this bipartisan legislation, the Governor will not appoint nominees to the PVSC Board of Commissioners. It would be irresponsible to put in place new Commissioners when there is no structure for accountability in place. It is the Governor’s strong belief that the legislature’s approval of veto authority over the PVSC is needed to make permanent the progress being made to impose fiscal responsibility and reduce wasteful spending.