Federal investigation in New Brunswick leads to firing of 2 city workers, resignation of a 3rd

by: kwilkinson

Tue Nov 28, 2006 at 01:25:44 AM EST

3 city workers leave jobs in housing probe

1 is fired and 2 resign in New Brunswick

Three New Brunswick employees under investigation during a federal probe into the city's housing rehabilitation program have either resigned or been fired in the last three weeks, officials announced yesterday.

Richard Kaplan, William Walker and Maria Torres were placed on administrative leave, with pay, from their jobs at New Brunswick's Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development in early October after city officials launched an investigation.

Since then, the U.S. Attorney's Office has seized bidding contracts from the department and started its own probe, though a spokesman for the office in Newark declined to comment about the investigation.

Kaplan, a rehabilitation construction official and assistant zon ing officer, resigned effective Nov. 10, said New Brunswick spokesman Bill Bray. Walker, who oversaw the city's Homeowner Affordable Rehabilitation Program and HOME program, resigned Friday. And Maria Torres, a field representative for neighborhood preservation, was dismissed effective Friday for "failure to meet certain civil service standards," Bray said.

Bray said Torres told city officials that she was contacted by Civil Service authorities and informed that she did not meet the qualifications for her position. Torres had been working for the city for about 23 months. Bray said it is not unusual for Civil Service to take that long to verify an employee's qualifications.

Bray said Kaplan and Walker were not forced to resign by city officials, but he declined to identify the reasons they quit... 

"I can't say anything further be cause both the city and police department's investigations are ongoing," Bray said.

The Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development, where the three employees worked, runs several programs that provide grants and deferred loans to low- and moderate-income homeowners to repair their homes. One is the HOME program, which provides up to $20,000 to fix problems. Another is the Homeowner Affordable Rehabilitation Program, which provides deferred loans of up to $20,000 to repair substandard conditions.

Bray said the programs have been suspended since the investigation was launched, though about 12 projects that had started were allowed to finish.

City officials have been tight-lipped about the investigation since it began in October, but New Brunswick officials have said they turned over bidding contracts from the housing department to the U.S. Attorney's Office...

The article also lists the individual contractors for 10 of the 75 contracts.