Boro asks state, feds to halt bridge project Sea Bright calls on Corzine, N.J. & U.S. attorneys to act BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer Sea Bright officials are taking their case to have the Highlands Bridge construction project halted to state and federal officials. Mayor Maria Fernandes announced at the April 15 council meeting that she has sent letters to Gov. Jon Corzine and state Attorney General Anne Milgram asking them to halt any further construction work on the bridge that joins the boroughs of Highlands and Sea Bright pending an investigation into an alleged forgery pertaining to the project. N.J. Department of Transportation (DOT) officials have said they are moving forward with the project to replace the 75- year-old drawbridge after an employee of the agency was charged with falsifying or tampering with records, a fourth-degree crime, in connection with an agreement of sale of property transfers for the bridge project. "A number of my constituents advised me that they have written letters to you about this matter and they have asked what you have decided to do about the alleged forgery and the fact that NJDOT is moving rapidly forward with this project without waiting for an investigation to conclude," wrote Fernandes in her April 15 letter to Corzine. She continues, "I am asking that the attorney general investigate this alleged forgery. Be advised that the Sea Bright public officials and I maintain that we do not want construction to continue until and unless an investigation has been completed." Attorneys for the Borough of Sea Bright and the local grassroots organization Citizens for Rational Coastal Development (CRCD) filed an injunction in December to stop the DOT from going forward with the bridge replacement, but a federal judge denied the request Feb. 4 in U.S. District Court based on the DOT's representation that the bridge would remain untouched until May 2009, according to counsel for the CRCD Stuart Lieberman, of Lieberman & Blecher. The CRCD has since dropped out of the federal suit but has filed another request for an injunction, this time in the state court Appellate Division and a similar request in the Superior Court, Monmouth County. The injunctive request in state court Appellate Division was recently denied, according to Lieberman. The DOT had previously informed a federal court judge that by 2009, upon completion of the new structure, the bridge would be demolished and replaced with a 30-foot-higher fixed bridge. According to a letter fromMilgram, the timetable for replacement of the Highlands Bridge has changed and the existing bridge may be dismantled as early as June 1. "I think we should all really be talking about this bridge issue because the more they rush it, I feel the more it calls into question the credibility of the entire project," said Councilwoman Dina Long of the new bridge project timetable. "We all know … certainly representatives from the DOT came to this room and made representations about the project that turn out to have no bearing in truth or reality. I think as much as we can talk about this, we should be talking about this and advocating for them to halt construction." Councilman William J. Keeler asked Borough Attorney Scott Arnette if there was any way to alert legal authorities about the "serious modification" in the bridge demolition timetable. "We have been bringing that to the attention of the court, but we haven't heard back yet as to how they were going to deal with the issue and whether or not it's substantive enough for them to even get involved," said Arnette. "There has been a lot of communication going to the federal judge that has heard the matter." He added, "The state is well aware of the circumstances involved here, but they have made the decision to go ahead with the contract. We continue to pursue the matter through the courts and we will continue to pursue the matter through the courts." DOT spokeswoman Erin Phalon said previously that the DOT would be performing an independent investigation. New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) had also previously called for the DOT "to conduct a comprehensive investigation as quickly as possible in order to determine whether this employee's actions have compromised the integrity of the project." In letters from state Sen. Sean T. Kean (R-11), Assemblyman David Rible (R-11) and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-11) to DOT Commissioner Kris Kolluri and Milgram, the legislators also urge officials to "temporarily halt all work on the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge project, until a full and thorough investigation is complete." The letter also refers to "other troubling concerns raised regarding the project" in addition to the allegations of criminal conduct lodged against a 22-year DOT employee. Fernandes also writes in her letter to Milgram that she is "very uncomfortable about what allegedly happened" with the alleged forgery by the principal right-ofway negotiator for the DOT, James J. Duffy. Duffy was one of the DOT liaisons working with the borough of Highlands on the transfer of property pertinent to the Highlands bridge construction project, according to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Duffy was charged after an investigation revealed that on July 12, 2006, he allegedly twice forged the signature of the Highlands borough clerk on documents identified as agreements of sale for the transfer of parcels 122 and 123 to the state of New Jersey, according to a press release from the Prosecutor's Office. Parcel 122 refers to block 39, lots 17 and 17.01, which is known as the Lighthouse Dock, and parcel 123 refers to block 8, lots 2 and 2.01, which is known as South Bay Avenue Park. Further, Duffy himself notarized the phony signatures he endorsed on each of the agreements, according to the press release. Fernandes said she had also contacted a representative from U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg's (D-NJ) office as well as a representative from U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey Christopher J. Christie's office. "The other thing is, today I did hear from U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg's office, from Paul Rodriguez, who apparently handles DOT issues, and he was concerned also and he told me that he would be contacting the DOT and he would get back to me. One of the requests was possibly sitting down with the DOT, and I told him that we'd be more than happy to do that but I cautioned him that we had some litigation pending, and I don't know if the DOT would want to do that, but we would be willing to do that," said Fernandes. She said the investigator she spoke to at Christie's office said they were satisfied as long as the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is looking into the claims, unless there was anything that had occurred that they deemed "really corrupt." Lieberman, who is the counsel for the local group opposing the bridge construction, had previously called for an investigation of the charge by Christie and not New Jersey officials. The DOT started accepting bids in November 2007 after receiving all necessary local and environmental approvals to move forward on the project and awarded the contract to low bidder J.H. Reid General Contractor of South Plainfield for $124.5 million, according to Phalon. The case involving Duffy has been assigned to Assistant Prosecutor John F. Loughery. If convicted of the crime of falsifying or tampering with records, Duffy faces a maximum potential custodial sentence of up to 18 months, according to the Prosecutor's Office.