More government favoritism!! Ex-judge: Authority's use of $14M in no-bid construction work at Bergen's Overpeck Park did not violate laws

A retired judge hired by the Bergen County Improvement Authority has placed his legal blessing on the agency’s controversial use of no-bid construction work at Overpeck Park.

Records show the BCIA has paid PMK more than $23 million for engineering work at Overpeck over the past five years.
Judge James T. Murphy, in a report released Thursday, found that $14 million in such payments were “reasonable and proper” and did not violate laws that require public bidding on all construction contracts over $7,500.

Murphy’s 16-page report concludes that bidding was not necessary because the Overpeck construction work was performed under a so-called “professional services” contract, which are exempt from state bidding laws.

The company that performed the work, the Joseph M. Sanzari Co., had been hired as a sub-contactor by an engineering firm that itself had been awarded a no-bid contract for overseeing the transformation of the park from an old landfill. Both Sanzari and the engineering firm, PMK Group of Cranford, have been major political contributors to Democrats who control the BCIA.

Records show the BCIA has paid PMK more than $23 million for engineering work at Overpeck over the past five years. More than $14 million of that total was paid out to Sanzari as a subcontractor in charge of moving earth and grading the 100-acre Overpeck site. The old landfill was “capped” using millions of cubic yards of imported harbor dredge, construction debris and other imported fill.

Murphy wrote, in essence, that PMK’s expertise was so critical to the capping operation that Sanzari could not operate without direct supervision.

PMK’s original contract of September 2005 has been amended nine times and quintupled in cost, as the Overpeck project continues to be beset by unexpected problems.

Murphy, confirming a recent report in The Record, found that the BCIA had failed to notify the Office of State Comptroller about changes in the PMK contract as is required under a 2007 law designed to reform public contracting.

The state had alerted Bergen County of the new reforms in a May 2008 letter, Murphy wrote, but the BCIA did not become aware of the requirements until February if the following year. Murphy offered no further explanation.

“There is no evidence of any favoritism, improvidence, extravagance partiality or corruption,” Murphy wrote.

It is unclear how extensive Murphy’s investigation was. His report does not detail how much time he spent, who he interviewed or which documents he reviewed.

Murphy, who was paid $190 an hour, was hired by the BCIA in May. He did not return calls Thursday.

The BCIA released a statement calling the judge an “independent” investigator and suggesting that he had reviewed and approved of the entire landfill-capping project.

“Judge Murphy’s report responds to any questions about how the work was implemented on behalf of our citizens,” the statement read. “Every phase of the Overpeck Park project followed the toughest environmental standards and the commitment has always been to make this a state-of-the-art facility that provides recreational opportunities for all residents.”

Bergen County Republicans who have been calling for an investigation of the scandal-scarred BCIA, termed Murphy’s report a whitewash and said it would only feed the belief that favoritism drives county government.

“This judge works for four months and we get a report with no recommendations, no explanation, a whitewash,” said Thomas Ammirato, a GOP spokesman. “How can we expect somebody hired by the BCIA to do an impartial investigation?”

Pete McAleer, a spokesman for state comptroller Matthew Boxer, said Boxer was not immediately available for comment.