Former Officials Offer Additional Perspective on Borough Settlement

WEST WILDWOOD – The Herald met with Herbert Frederick, former mayor of West Wildwood, and Gerard McNamara, former borough commissioner, at their request to hear what Frederick termed as his objective to give the public “all the facts … to make an independent educated decision on their own about the aforementioned issue.” Both men were reacting to the Herald’s March 4 article, “Borough Pays Settlement in Harassment Suit.”
In that article it was reported that $350,000 was paid to James and Lori Perloff, who filed a lawsuit of over 40 pages claiming that the borough, including Frederick and McNamara, had retaliated against them because they played a part in seeking a recall election and for making public alleged voting irregularities and other instances of public malfeasance.
A primary objection to the article by Frederick and McNamara was in reference to their names being quoted and their alleged actions described in connection with the Perloffs’ lawsuit.
The Herald’s article was based on direct quotations from legal proceedings in the public domain. These pleadings were used as a basis for the settlement with the Perloffs by the borough through its insurance company.
Frederick said both he and McNamara were completely outside the scope of the Perloffs’ complaint and had never done anything against them. Frederick submitted to the Herald a court order, “Stipulation of Dismissal,” from the U.S. District Court in Camden, dated Dec. 10, 2014 indicating he and McNamara had been withdrawn from the complaint “with prejudice” i.e. any allegations or charges against both were dismissed and they could not be re-filed in any new lawsuit.
Frederick further stated that the $350,000 settlement which has been termed “paid by the borough” was “in fact paid by the insurance company with no financial involvement from or through West Wildwood.” When queried as to why an insurance company would pay out a settlement with no reference to its insured client, Frederick did not offer an explanation.
As to one of the incidents related to harassment alleged by the Perloffs, McNamara responded that the rainwater runoff issue was not something either he or Frederick created. McNamara stated, “I authorized a top of the line pump to accommodate the flooding condition the Perloffs complained about. If I really wanted to ‘harass’ them I would have had a temporary and inferior job done to fix their situation.”
Both Frederick and McNamara stated that prior borough decision-makers had allowed the Perloffs’ duplex home to be constructed on low-lying flood prone land in violation of borough ordinance and in violation of CAFRA agreement with the borough prohibiting construction in this area.
“By building on land where run-off was inevitable, the Perloffs actually created the situation that they then complained about; McNamara and I were dropped from the lawsuit because we simply just inherited the mess,” stated Frederick.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.