The City of Hoboken must reinstate Brian Crimmins as fire chief or they are committing a fourth-degree crime, according to a November 10th letter from New Jersey Civil Service Commission Chair Allison Chris Myers to Hoboken Business Administrator Caleb Stratton.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Please note that, since the Commission reversed Mr. Crimmins’ demotion, his record with the Commission already reflects his reinstatement as Fire Chief. The appointing authority should have reinstated Mr. Crimmins as Fire Chief within 30 days of the Commission’s February 26, 2025 decision and was required to make a good faith effort to ensure his receipt of differential back pay, benefits, and seniority,” Myers wrote.
“Moreover, it is emphasized that the Appellate Division denied the appointing authority’s Motion for Stay on April 28, 2025. Accordingly, if the Commission is advised that Mr. Crimmins is not reinstated to his position as Fire Chief, I am left with no alternative but to initiate an order to stop payment of the salary of Mr. [Anton] Peskens, as well as the individual with employment authority over Mr. Peskens, and the person who authorizes payment of the disapproved salary.”
Back in May 2021, Crimmins was placed on administrative leave and Peskens was named acting chief before returning to work as a firefighter in April 2023, before an administrative law judge and the NJCSC ordered his reinstatement, all as HCV first reported.
Then in September, the Hoboken City Council voted 4-3(1), with Council President Jim Doyle, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, and Councilman-at-Large Joe Quintero voting no and Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour abstaining.
” … It is a crime of the fourth degree for any person to purposefully or knowingly violate or conspire to violate any provision of Title 11A, New Jersey Statutes, Title 4A, N.J.A.C., or an order of the Chairperson or Commission,” Myers also wrote.
“In summary, by copy of this letter, the Commission’s operating divisions shall update the County and Municipal Personnel System to reflect an interim appointment of Mr. Peskens as Fire Chief from February 1, 2023 to February 26, 2025; stay the Fire Chief, Hoboken, examination; and if necessary, initiate the salary disapproval of Peskens, the individual with employment authority over Mr. Peskens, and the person who authorizes payment of a disapproved salary. Please be guided accordingly.”
Those individuals copies on the letter include Deputy Attorney General Erin Gilgen, Governor’s Office of Constituent Relations Director Vincent Funelas, New Jersey Career Fire Chiefs Association President William Eaton, among others.
Myers also addresses Crimmins as “Fire Chief Brian Crimmins.”
City spokeswoman Marilyn Baer declined to comment on the specific instructions issued to the city from the state.
“We are aware of the letter, and we are addressing the matter. However, as this involves personnel, we are unable to provide further comment at this time,” she told HCV.
Throw the bums out! This is preposterous! Bhalla and his gang of Ferrante, Aiola, Peskins are scoundrels for continuing this charade. And, shame on you Jabbour for staying silent and advocating for Peskins while this played out. You are also part of the problem.
Some Battalion Chiefs didn’t like being held accountable and they cooked up a scheme with Bhalla to try and oust the Real Chief. Yes, you had a BC with a private real estate business that hired dozens of firefighters to work for him. The same BC is in the bar business with John Allen while Allen was the ABC attorney. Another BC who along with his father (a retired Fire Chief) also employs a handful of firefighters for his real estate business and even supervises his newly hired FD dispatcher son. And, now a newly promoted BC is supervising his own brother. This is unreal.
Chief Crimmins is a dedicated employee who should be above reproach yet these disgusting people had no problem trying to destroy his good reputation. For 5 years he has been tortured with this nonsense, incurred thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees. They tried to break him, demoted three ranks and forced to work at the lowest level in the department. All the lies were factually debunked in Court testimony. Guess what? Crimmins has more balls than all of them. He happily worked as one of us and never complained. A salute to my good friend and brother firefighter. Welcome back and clean up the cronyism, favoritism and lack of work ethic in headquarters.
Let’s not forget that Mike Russo justified this illegal sh*t show just recently by referring to a mysterious “back story” he said he was aware of but refused to disclose. Russo was Ravi’s 5th vote – there is zero chance he wasn’t part of this from the start. He was more Ravi inner circle on this stuff than Emily who fell for the BS shovelled by Ravi and his inner circle
cronies.