Paramus Administrator Cleared after probe on Personal Auto Repairs at DPW

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paramus NJ, an investigation into whether the Paramus borough administrator’s used municipal workers to fix his personal vehicle has concluded. Paramus officials remain tight-lipped about the conclusions. The Paramus Borough Council ordered the probe into Administrator Hector Olmo’s activities in September after Councilwoman MariaElena Bellinger said she had heard that town employees might have been asked to repair his car.

During a Sept. 6 council meeting, Councilperson and Candidate for Mayor Bellinger, a Democrat then running for mayor, questioned the legality of such work, though she didn’t say where the information had come from. She also asked that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office investigate the situation.

Paramus pursued an internal investigation with an outside law firm but did  not release the conclusion. Mayor DiPiazza, a Republican who defeated Bellinger, said protocols have changed at the borough Department of Public Works.The changes are intended to stop a practice that was going on “for decades” in which DPW employees did side jobs during their off time with their own tools and Mayor DiPiazza  added, “These employees never used any taxpayer-funded resources for the extra work”.