DCA to Union City: Only provide legal representation where appropriate

Former Union City Deputy Chief of Police Joe Blaettler has filed a complaint with the state Division of Local Government Services, a subdivision of the Department of Community Affairs, alleging that the city of Union City is paying legal bills for someone that was not a city employee at the time of the events in question.

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Joe Blaettler, also the owner of East Coast Private Investigations and constant thorn in the side of Mayor Brian Stack, filed a complaint with the DLGS on July 28, stating that Mark Albiez, a former Chief of Staff in Stack’s capacity as a state senator, should not be entitled to legal counsel covered by the city of Union City in the legal matter of Moraima Medina vs. the City of Union City.

The lawsuit alleges that Medina was harassed and had her civil rights violated by Albiez, Stack and then-Police Chief Charles Everett, among others, when they believed she was working for Blaettler back in 2011.

According to news articles published between September and December 2011, Albiez was an unpaid spokesman for the city of Union City. Based on Medina’s legal matter, which has been in the federal court system for 13 months now, the incident where she was allegedly harassed took place on July 20, 2011.

Therefore, the timeline of events would indicate that Albiez was not on the Union City employee payroll when the encounter with Medina occurred.

Tammori Petty, the director of communications for the DCA, was covert when addressing Blaettler’s complaint.

“The Division of Local Government Services received the complaint and has asked the City to review the matter and ensure legal representation is provided by the City only where appropriate,” she told Hudson County View in an email.

When asked to clarify if that meant Albiez would no longer be represented by the city, Petty responded by writing “The DCA has no further public comment on this matter as it is in litigation.”

Blaettler, who spoke with Hudson County View one-on-one, was less than thrilled with to hear about the DCA’s handling of the matter.

Albiez did not respond to calls or an email seeking comment, while Stack also did not respond to calls seeking comment.