Commissioners fire Abate from position at WMUA
BY MARK ROSMAN
Staff Writer

Frank Abate has been fired as the executive director of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA).

Citing inappropriate personal dealings between Abate and four vendors of the WMUA, as well as a series of what were termed significant failures to communicate critical information to the WMUA Board of Commissioners, the commissioners voted on Sept. 21 to terminate Abate's employment contract as executive director of the sewerage authority, according to a press release.

Meanwhile, the attorney who represents Abate said he expects his client to seek compensation for what he called a wrongful termination.

The firing came eight weeks after agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service visited the WMUA's Pension Road, Manalapan, offices on July 25. On the same day, law enforcement agents were also seen at Abate's Marlboro home. The federal agencies have not described the nature of their business at the two locations.

WMUA spokesman Jeff Meyer has said the federal agencies' business dealt with Abate's personal actions and not with the authority itself.

Shortly after the federal agents visited the WMUA offices and Abate's home, Abate was suspended without pay from his $105,000 position with the authority.

According to the WMUA's Sept. 22 press release, an internal investigation conducted by the authority's counsel uncovered evidence of questionable personal dealings between Abate and four vendors of the authority.

After nearly two months of unfruitful meetings and discussions between the commissioners and Abate's attorney in an effort to allow Abate to refute the findings of the investigation, the commissioners decided to terminate Abate's employment at the authority, according to the press release.

During those meetings, Abate refused to directly respond to the commissioners' questions, invoking his right to remain silent in the face of a pending criminal investigation by the FBI, according to the press release.

Concluding that Abate's conduct violated the state's Local Government Ethics Law, his employment agreement and the WMUA's personnel manual, Chairman Eric Abraham said the former executive director was terminated for good cause.

The commissioners voted 3-0 to terminate Abate, with Commissioner Jeff Hymowitz recusing himself from the vote.

Attorney Aron M. Schwartz, of Woodbridge, represents Abate and said Monday that "we disagree with the decision to terminate Mr. Abate's employment. We believe it was without basis and that it violated his employment contract. We expect Mr. Abate

will seek full compensation for this wrongful termination."

According to the press release from the WMUA, in reaching their decision the commissioners reiterated their policy of zero tolerance regarding matters that impact the image and reputation of the authority.

They said that in an era when six figure public employee payouts have become the norm, they felt it was crucial to protect the financial interests of the authority and its ratepayers and to set an example by not relenting on Abate's demand for financial concessions. As a result, Abate will not receive any financial benefit as part of the terms of his termination.

Kathy Leatherman is presently serving as the acting executive director of the WMUA.

The WMUA operates a waste water sewage treatment plant in Manalapan that provides sewage treatment service to 25,000 residential customers in Manalapan, Marlboro, Englishtown and Freehold Township.

There are four commissioners on the authority's board, two each appointed by the governing bodies of Manalapan and Marlboro. The WMUA commissioners are Eric Abraham and Steve Toubin, of Manalapan, and Jeffrey Hymowitz and Ralph Zulferino, of Marlboro.