CITY HALL CHAOS
Clerk at the center of some of the City Hall drama has workplace problems and a nolled felony charge in his past
TRENTON» He calls himself “Switzerland.”
Yet, just months into his tenure as city clerk, Matthew Hugh Conlon III has acted in ways that have city officials doubting he’s the neutral party he claims to be in the ongoing war between council and the administration.
Conlon’s actions since starting as clerk in August read like a “telenovela” in a city known for made-fortabloid controversies and show he’s taken sides, officials said.
“We have never experienced this level of tension from a city clerk,” at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley said in a recent interview. “Mr. Conlon represents everything that is wrong with the city government.”
In less than four months, the clerk — who the mayor says never underwent a background check before being hired — has threatened a restraining order against deposed law director John Morelli for allegedly challenging the clerk to a fight.
He threatened Blakeley, who is perceived as friendly to the administration, with a lawsuit for questioning his legal background. He filed a police report against a newspaper reporter.
He claimed to be a whistleblower in an alleged criminal “RICO Conspiracy” involving Blakeley, top administration officials and this newspaper.
He pressured an employee not to take steps to fulfill a public records request for Conlon’s emails. He suffered an apparent medical episode as legislators pondered his job performance. He filed a workers
compensation claim against the city citing stress.
And he’s a subject of two active investigations by outside law firms, the results of which are still pending. One centers on whether Conlon has the credentials he listed on his resume. The second focuses on if he created a hostile work environment at City Hall.
Now comes the revelation that Conlon, 48, a native New Yorker and the man accusing others of crimes in Trenton, was once charged with a felony in another state.
The clerk has said it’s not him and blamed a family member — a claim he later appeared to contradict in a conversation taped by others inside City Hall and obtained by this newspaper.
Conlon spent three months in jail awaiting trial, but the case was eventually dismissed. The allegations contained in the charging document — that Conlon seized control of his aunt’s estate and mismanaged her finances — have officials concerned because the clerk is in a powerful position of trust in Trenton government.
Appointed for three years at a salary of $122,000 a year, Conlon replaced the respected Dwayne Harris, who Blakeley said was run off by members of council over petty grievances.
Conlon’s tasks as clerk, one of the highest paid employees at City Hall, include keeping the government running as the keeper of records and facilitator of city council meetings, while also heading his department that allows the public access to information and helps run city elections.
Public records and interviews with those who have worked with Conlon over the years further revealed his other issues and litigious nature preceding his arrival in Trenton.
Blakeley questioned Conlon’s credibility as a public
official.
“We need someone who has unimpeachable integrity,” he said. “If we were going to hire someone with a criminal charge, hell, we could have hired someone from Trenton.”
In previous employment stops in New Jersey, Conlon made allegations against colleagues and repeatedly threatened lawsuits, including one netting him a settlement, interviews and municipal records show.
Court records further revealed Conlon has an active slip-and-fall lawsuit against his landlord, South Bellevue Properties LLC in Atlantic City, stemming from an apparent accident Feb. 27, 2018.
The slip-and-fall lawsuit isn’t the only interaction Conlon, a law school graduate
who never became a licensed attorney in New Jersey, has had with the legal system.
Conlon claimed to The Trentonian in recent interviews that his cousin — also named Matthew Hugh Conlon III with the same birthday — was the one who was charged with the felony in Florida.
The felony case has some city officials second-guessing hiring Conlon, who was unanimously approved as clerk in early August. Council president Kathy McBride
— flouting standard policy
— refused the administration’s offer to conduct a background check on the clerk, Mayor Reed Gusciora has said.
Blakeley and East Ward councilman Joe Harrison said they were misled into
supporting the clerk’s appointment under “false pretenses” and wouldn’t have voted him in if they knew about his history.
“The public needs to see this,” Harrison said, referring to the felony charge. “This should worry anybody. The city council should see this, and Mr. Conlon should be unemployed.”
All seven council members were given the chance to review the records and mugshot from Conlon’s case, but only three took up the offer.
McBride, who recruited Conlon and who the clerk has described as a friend, said she was too busy to look at the record. She told the newspaper to “mail” her the documents.
Some legislators already took steps to send the clerk packing. Blakeley, Harrison and councilwoman Robin Vaughn voted to issue the clerk a Rice notice. Rice notices are typically given to municipal employees when their employment is being discussed.
While the measure died 4-3, the legislators wanted to discuss how the clerk hadn’t complied with terms of an offer letter requiring him to move to Trenton within 90 days of his Aug. 28 start date.
Blakeley introduced the resolution during a meeting after being troubled by some of the clerk’s actions.
His initial attempt to serve the Rice notice ended once Conlon suffered an apparent medical episode minutes after he argued with Blakeley about the legality of Blakely’s resolution.
The clerk was transferred by ambulance to the hospital, reportedly suffering chest pains, officials said. He returned to work the next day.
The Parsippany-based law firm Inglesino, Webster, Wyciskala & Taylor is investigating whether Conlon has the credentials he listed on his resume after Conlon and Blakeley argued publicly when Blakeley questioned the clerk’s qualifications during a council meeting.
The clerk is now entangled in a second investigation by the Bloomfieldbased Aloia Law Firm into allegations from at least two employees of creating a hostile workplace at City Hall.
Gusciora told The Trentonian that Conlon has become such a divisive figure that he’s asked the law department to determine if he can bar the clerk from the upper floors of City Hall.
“More than one employee said they were uncomfortable with him coming into their space and making demands and showing aggressive behavior,” the mayor said.
Conlon’s issues aren’t relegated to Trenton, records show.
In 2018, after not being reappointed clerk in Longport Borough, Conlon received a $22,000 payout. A solicitor encouraged commissioners to settle with
Conlon to head off a lawsuit.
The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Trentonian, included a mutual non-disparagement clause preventing the parties from speaking ill of each other.
Before coming to Trenton, Conlon was the municipal clerk and registrar in Highlands Borough, NJ.
He had issues there with business administrator Kim Gonzales, according to a Nov. 20 letter from Mayor Carolyn Broullon to Gonzales.
The borough hired a law firm that was paid $17,900 to conclude that Gonzales and the borough did nothing wrong.
Gonzales said in an interview recently that Conlon threatened to sue her and others and made other odd claims.
“He told employees how he was having me investigated and he and the mayor were setting up to have me fired,” she said. “Then he came to me to say how the borough attorney and him were directed by the mayor to make complaints and have me investigated.”
Gonzales said borough employees were “confused”
whether Conlon was a licensed attorney in New Jersey.
“We didn’t dig too much,” she said. “Some employees were concerned
with some stories or the fabrication of stories.”