Wait Continues for Decision in Fox’s Ethics Case

TRENTON – A new judge assigned to hear former West Wildwood Mayor Christopher Fox’s appeal of seven ethics violations, and the associated $24,900 in fines, received another extension to render a decision in the case.
Judge Susan Olgiati will have until March 14 to decide if Fox is responsible for the alleged violations, mostly having to do with his living arrangement with the borough’s police chief, according to the Office of Administrative Law. 
Olgiati was granted extensions after taking over the case when Judge John S. Kennedy, who had been hearing the case, moved up to the Superior Court.
The fines, according to Deputy Attorney General Steve Gleeson, who argued the case for the state, are the largest ever issued by the state Local Finance Board.
Fox “committed an egregious number of violations of the LGEL (Local Government Ethics Law) in an unprecedented manner in flagrant disregard of our state’s deep commitment to good governance. As such, his penalty of $24,900 – though high – is more than warranted given the sheer number of violations committed and the seriousness of many of the violations,” Gleeson wrote in his closing brief. 
Fox appealed the underlying charges, resulting in a hearing last spring, held over three days, during which he testified. 
Lawyers submitted their closing arguments to the court in briefs, with Fox’s attorney, Michelle Douglass, asking the court to dismiss six of the seven charges and order a penalty mitigation hearing on the seventh, which charged Fox with failing to disclose a pension he was receiving, something he claimed was an inadvertent mistake that served him no benefit.
Gleeson asked the judge to affirm all the charges by granting the state’s motion for summary decision. 
The Local Finance Board alleges Fox served as mayor and director of public safety, taking official action related to the police department while living with its police chief, his subordinate, Jacquelyn Ferentz.  
Ferentz, then a lower-ranking member of the department, was fired under a previous administration. 
The state’s proffer alleges Fox settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with her shortly after winning the mayoral election and she was then reinstated to the department. 
One month later, Ferentz was appointed chief. Over the next three years, Fox voted to allow her salary to increase by close to $34,000, court documents say.  
Ferentz also had a pending whistleblower suit stemming from her termination when the other case was settled by the borough. Ferentz was eventually awarded $1.7 million in a jury decision in the whistleblower case, in which she was represented by Douglass.  
The borough’s insurance would not pay the jury award because Fox settled the wrongful termination suit, court documents say, leaving the tiny borough on the hook to pay. 
Fox voted for emergency appropriations and a bond ordinance to fund the jury award, according to court documents. He is also allegedly in violation of ethics policies for reading the police department’s monthly activity reports from the dais at public meetings; voting for his daughter to be appointed to a volunteer position in the borough; being involved, on 16 occasions, in hiring, promoting or appointing police officers; discussing the police department at public meetings and responding to public comments with his views on the department; participated in adopting ordinances funding the police department; approving a contract with a law firm to oppose the insurer who refused to pay the jury award to Ferentz; signing a shared services agreement with Wildwood while simultaneously serving as that city’s administrator and West Wildwood’s mayor; and failing to disclose pension on required financial disclosure forms. 
Douglass, in her brief, argued the majority of the ethics complaints are a result of him living with Ferentz, which would create a slippery slope in small towns like West Wildwood, which still have a need for its residents to serve as government officials.
“It is important to bear in mind that West Wildwood has a year-round population of 603 people, with 275 households. That’s it. The town itself is less than one square mile. As one can well imagine, everyone who lives there knows everyone else… pretty well,” Douglass wrote. 
Fox, who did not pay rent to Ferentz, but said he helped with other household expenses, claims he did not receive any monetary gain from the arrangement, and it helped him to remain near his children, who lived in West Wildwood with Fox’s estranged wife.
Fox was voted out of office in November 2021 and hasn’t served the borough as mayor in over a year. 
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.