WEST WILDWOOD – Payments by West Wildwood to its police chief, Jacquelyn Ferentz, to satisfy a 2017 judgment in a whistleblower lawsuit she won will be accelerated by $17,000 per month, beginning in September 2021, as stated in Ferentz’s new employment contract.
The five-year contract was reapproved Dec. 17, during one of the last meetings with the current slate of commissioners. Mayor Christopher Fox, who lives with Ferentz, abstained from the 2-0 vote to approve the contract, but said he reviewed the agreement. It indicates Ferentz will receive over $22,630 monthly, after the September bump.
Ferentz received the $1.76 million judgment against the borough in a 2017 jury verdict. Her attorney, Michelle Douglass, was to receive $706,675 of the judgment, in accordance with her fee agreement, court documents state.
“It’s already in the budget,” Fox said, noting Douglass would be paid off that month (September 2021) and the more than $17,000 monthly budget line item would transfer from the attorney to Ferentz.
“It doesn’t affect the budget,” he added.
In a 2018 consent order filed in Cape May County Superior Court, Ferentz agreed to receive her remaining $1,060,012 in $5,040.60 monthly payments, for 201 months. Douglass agreed to be paid $17,589.96 in fees per month, for 42 months.
In the consent order, Ferentz reserves “the right to accelerate payment of the balance remaining.” Ferentz’s employment contract states she will invoke that right once her attorney’s share is paid off.
Commissioner-elect Joseph Segrest assumed that would be when $211,000 a year would be available in his first budget. After all, West Wildwood made concessions to accommodate the monthly payments, like closing offices on Fridays. Segrest hoped the extra $17,000-plus monthly would help restore some of those reduced services.
Fox, who was voted out of office in November’s election, debated Segrest during public comment, at the Dec. 17 meeting. Ferentz’s new contract extends one year beyond the next election for the borough’s three commissioner seats and sets terms for one year longer than the chief’s prior deal.
“The bottom line is it’s not in accordance with the amortization tables that were in the agreement. You have basically changed the agreement for the payoff of the judgment,” Segrest argued.
“The agreement says, at any time – if you read it, which I’m sure you did and maybe you’re forgetting this part – the money can be accelerated to try to get it paid off sooner,” retorted Fox.
The borough will continue to pay $211,000 per year, but all to Ferentz, instead of sending most to Douglass.
This will bring Ferentz’s total monthly payment to $22,630, which would pay off her jury award in five years.
The Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), which normally pays this type of judgment for the borough, successfully argued in court they should not have to pay because the borough did not put up an adequate defense at trial against Ferentz.
Commissioners passed resolutions precluding the borough’s trial lawyer, Louis Barbone, from using certain defenses against Ferentz’s lawsuit.
In the ruling in favor of the JIF, Superior Court Judge James H. Pickering Jr. wrote of the borough’s trial strategy: “There is no attorney living, dying or dead who could win with that defense.”
This left the borough, which had a $2.9 million budget, in 2020, on the hook to pay the full $1.76 million.
Fox spoke in support of accelerated payments for Ferentz.
“Get it off our plate, and it frees up the money in five years rather than someone calling in some big note that the borough can’t afford,” Fox explained.
Ferentz’s contract, negotiated for the borough by Commissioner Scott Golden, who oversees public safety, deems the payment acceleration “an essential term of this agreement.”
Golden said there was always an understanding between him, Ferentz, and former commissioner Cornelius Maxwell that when Douglass’ payment was finished, Ferentz’s would be accelerated.
“He gave his word. He kept his word. I think that makes him honorable,” Fox said.
Golden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Segrest said, in an interview, he believes negotiating a new contract with Ferentz before new commissioners take office, after letting a four-year contract hang for eight years, was acting in bad faith.
The new agreement with Ferentz is the first contract negotiated with the chief since 2012, when she agreed to terms for four years. The contract, as most police contracts do, included a clause that the deal would remain in place year-to-year until a new one was renegotiated.
“You wanted to make sure the police chief was taken care of. Period. End of story,” said taxpayer Helen Rao.
Golden countered that he thought it was in the borough’s best interest to eliminate the debt sooner.
“It’s a debt the borough owes, it might as well pay it down. That’s my opinion of it,” Golden said. “I’m not going through this with you over and over. You’re not getting the answer you want. I’m sorry. Thank you for your comment.”
He repeated that phrase in response to several questions throughout the comment period.
“I did it the way I wanted to do it, and that’s the way it’s done,” he added. “I still can make decisions up until Jan. 1, and that’s it. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry.”
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
