Newton Twp. Taxpayers Pay $45,000 for a Worthless Lot

[Sal]

Township officials got caught fooling around, the people that caught them are being harassed and the taxpayers end up paying for all of it.

Two small building lots in a development were required to be combined into one lot but instead they were sold individually.  Newton Township officials told Linda Lombardo that she could build a house on one of the lots.  Relying on the township’s advice, Lombardo purchased the lot and the township issued a building permit.

When the neighbors, Richard and Sandra Albright found out what transpired, they got an injunction against the Township and Lombardo.  The court found that the violation of the restrictive covenant was intentional.   Read the entire 16 page decision here.

“Both Respondents, the Township and Linda Lombardo, were aware of the notes in the Phase II subdivision plan, the restrictive covenants.  This awareness is confirmed by virtue of their collective efforts to “grandfather” the lot into compliance.  The developer of the Phase II subdivision was the person who sold the property to Respondent Lombardo, and was also aware of those restrictions.   The fact that Respondent Lombardo sought relief from the restrictive covenants from the Township is further evidence that the parties knew of the restrictive covenants and intentionally attempted to circumvent the covenants.”

Mr. Albright said that Township officials gave an illegal permit to Lombardo to build a structure. Then started harassing his family for having a tennis court that didn’t even require a permit.  They just singled us out for standing up to their illegitimate conduct, he said.  

Mr. Albright went on to say that the township is still harassing them and the $45,000 that they paid to Lombardo for the lot is more proof that what they did was wrong.

The Backroom Deal!  
At the January supervisors meeting there was another back room meeting.  The back room is like a revolving door for the supervisors and solicitor.   Everyone seemed happy.  Lombardo was in the audience smiling.  The township solicitor, Joseph Sileo went up to Lombardo with a big smile.  He put his arm around her and whispered in her ear as he ushered her out of the building.

They didn’t want anyone to know about the deal.  So, the word on the street is that Lombardo got 45 grand, the Newton taxpayers are the proud owner of the worthless lot and the solicitor received an untold amount of money for his six years involvement in the mess that occurred under his watch.

It’s no wonder that the solicitor had a grin from ear to ear.  He makes money from all the conflicts and earlier that evening the supervisors gave him a 14% pay raise too.

[Sal]

It’s official!

At the February supervisors meeting, the supervisors voted to pay Ms. Lombardo for the worthless lot.  The Township taxpayers ended up paying Lombardo double what she paid.

The solicitor and supervisor Koldjeski put on a lengthy speech trying to make up excuses for what they did.  Both were involved in the activity that the Court deemed unlawful.

They also presented distorted facts to the audience that the lot was not worthless and that they had people who were interested in it.  One commenter pointed out that an unbuildable lot cannot be worth much.

Later that week the solicitor tried to get the Albrights (the very same people that the township is harassing) to buy the lot.  Needless to say, the Albrights were not interested and it just shows that the solicitor is not too bright

[Robin]

i think if its a worthless lot than why people are paying more for that.This is due to that solicitor misguiding them or any other reason that they are facing.Because no one is ready to pay as much for a worthless thing.

[Sal]

Robin, people are not paying more and yes I think, the solicitor is very misguided.

The value is in lot 50a which is owned by the Driesbaughs.  There are no offers for lot 50b which the Township was forced to buy for $45,000.  It is basically worthless and that is why the Township got stuck with it.

When the dirty deal went down, Ronald Koldjeski was a supervisor and Sileo was the solicitor.  They are trying to trick people into believing that the lot is not worthless because they got caught losing and wasting a lot of township money.  

People are rightfully upset about it and they are trying to fool those people with another deal.

The solicitor misguides quite often and he makes money doing it.  There is a link above to a copy of a Court Order.  That Court Order was written by a Judge.

There are records dating back to 2007 showing Sileo’s involvement.  Sileo made money from the conflict for 6 years and counting.  The developer made money too and the township paid for all of that.  

If the township gets anything from the Driesbaughs deal, it will be very little because the Township is not entitles to money from Driesbaughs property.

If the Township gets any money out of this, it will have already be eaten up by Sileo’s fees and other costs.  He charged $7,500 just for march and one of the main things he cited was all of the time he spent on these lots.

There is a potential for more lawsuits but Sileo doesn’t care because that means more money for him.   And he admitted he’s here to make money.

How much money did Sileo squander out of the township over six years for something that was his fault.  Why is the Township still paying him?  It should be the other way around.  Does Sileo have errors and omission insurance or do we have to pay for that too.

Sileo refused to give the elected Auditors free complete access to the books and records.  I wonder why.

[Sal]

The useless lot that the Township owns along with the lot next to it is being auctioned off on Wednesday 25, at the Township building at 6:30 PM.  It was supposed to be auctioned off last week.

I went to watch the auction last week but all there was, was our friendly smiling solicitor telling everyone it was postponed and to come back in a couple weeks.

I would be smiling too if I got paid like he does.  Let me see, preparation time, travel time, time spent telling everyone to come back in two weeks.  

Did they really need to pay a lawyer to do that?

The solicitor has been working hard and billing just as hard for this auction since the taxpayers got stuck with the useless lot back in February.   And, why did the taxpayers get stuck?  Read above.

If the taxpayers get anything out of the sale, it would be interesting to have someone go back and calculate all of the costs and fees and see how much the taxpayers actually lost.

[Sal]

The two lots 50A and 50B were sold at auction at the township building tonight.

The township will combine both lots to make one lot that will be just over one acre.

There were two bidders.  A local couple won the bid at $50,000.