MCPO closes ‘Sunshine Law’ probe, no fines for Trenton

TRENTON » They got off easy.

Mercer County prosecutors decided not to fine council members for violating the Open Public Meetings Act by holding court with a redeveloper during a secret meeting last year.

Prosecutors encountered stumbling blocks after realizing that former law director John Morelli and thenassistant city attorney Peter Cohen signed off on two executive-session resolutions.

The resolutions allowed council to enter executive session under the guise of attorney-client privilege to discuss redevelopment with attorney John Hoffman.

No one from the law department objected when the Sept. 3 executive session veered off course into a redevelopment pitch from

Elite Spiders President John Liu, which jibes with what those present in the session told this newspaper.

“We have reviewed the matter in detail and have found that further criminal investigation and/or prosecution is not warranted under the circumstances,” MCPO spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said. “As a result, this inquiry is closed.”

The Trentonian wrote to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal last fall requesting an investigation into Sunshine Law infractions.

Mayor Reed Gusciora fired off his own missive to Grewal agreeing with the newspaper’s legal reasoning.

The case was turned over to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri. His office subpoenaed records from the city as part of the probe, according to court records.

The Trentonian believed there was strong case that council violated the OPMA.

The Trentonian pointed to other cases in which governing bodies got in trouble for holding illegal secret meetings, including one from 2017 involving the Berkeley Heights Library Board of Trustees.

The Union County Prosecutor’s Office found the board ran afoul of the OPMA by inviting an outside party into executive session for contract negotiations.

“The purpose of the exception is to allow members of the governing body to discuss a contract among themselves, not with members of the organization with whom they are negotiating,” a prosecutor wrote.

The newspaper cited another case that said attorney-client privilege was not a valid OPMA exception when a “a third party outside the privilege” was present during the executive session.

That was the case with Trenton’s secret powwow with Liu and his handlers.

But prosecutors determined legislators relied on the law department’s advice in going forward with the secret session, muddying who was responsible for the OPMA violation that could have cost officials $100 for a firsttime offense.

According to records obtained by The Trentonian, independent consultant Joyce Kersey, who helped broker the meeting between Liu and legislators, was among 17 people present on the virtual executive session.

All seven council members were in on the executive session, along with clerk Matthew Conlon, council redevelopment attorney Hoffman, assistant city attorney Jacqueline Abdur-Razzaq, Morelli, among others, records show.

Council members Santiago Rodriguez, Robin Vaughn and Joe Harrison forwarded links to the executive session to others, according to a Sept. 21 email

IT sent by director Joseph Rivera to Conlon.

Morelli did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment about why his office didn’t intervene when the meeting veered into illegal territory.

Gusciora previously tried saddling that blame on excouncil attorney Edward Kologi in a letter dismissing the former council-appointed lawyer for allegedly violating contract terms.

“According to my conversation with Morelli, he did object and they shushed him,” Gusciora said, claiming Morelli was misled into thinking council sought advice from Hoffman, not that it was entertaining a pitch.

During the executive session, Liu presented council with a proposal to buy the historic Roebling Wire Works building for $200,000 to transform into a PPE factory.

The administration had rebuffed his pitch, saying the Wire Works building, home to the Art All Night festival, wasn’t for sale.

Gusciora still believes council violated OPMA by meeting privately with Liu.

“I stand by the letter I wrote,” Gusciora said. “It is highly improper for a city entity to go into closed-door session in order to sell city property.”

Two weeks after the infamous executive session, Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson granted the administration’s request for an injunction, ruling McBride violated the Faulkner Act by meeting with redevelopers.

She said courting redevelopers was a power vested in the administration, meaning council should’ve never met with Liu to begin with.

“We hope they adhere to [the ruling], but there’s no guarantees,” Gusciora said.

McBride did not respond to a message left on her cell phone.