Weehawken Construction Code Official Frank Tattoli drove a township vehicle down to his summer home in Seaside Park on multiple occasions, but Mayor Richard Turner says the practice is fair given his hefty job responsibilities.
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Tattoli, who earned $113,070 in Weehawken in 2013 according to public records, owns a home in Seaside Park – based on property records.
Looking at photos forwarded to Hudson County View, it appears thatTattoli had a municipal vehicle with the license plate “MG90376” parked either in the driveway or in front of the Seaside Park home just a few months ago.
While Tattoli could not be reached at his office on Wednesday, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner said allowing Tattoli to drive a township vehicle to and from work is fair considering he is “on call 24/7” and “puts in an enormous amount of hours” with very little help.
“The township pays for gas and mileage, he’s on call 24/7, so I have no problem with that whatsoever,” Turner said over the phone.
“So whether he lives in Sussex or Ocean County, he’s on call 24/7. He may be living there [Seaside Park] full-time now, I’m not too sure, but it’s very hard to find subcode officials who meet all the criteria that live in Weehawken.”
Turner added that Tattoli is the only township official that lives outside of Weehawken and is allowed to use a township car, further stating joyriding, shopping and running errands are not permitted uses for the vehicle – none of which would describe the car being parked in a driveway.
However, East Coast Private Investigations President Joe Blaettler wasn’t interested in that aspect of Tattoli’s employment: he instead honed in on how Tattoli is able to earn $55,000 a year as a plumbing sub-code official in Union City – even though he works just five hours a week.
Records from six payroll periods between December 29, 2014 and May 29, 2015 indicate that Tattoli was getting paid 10 hours per pay period.
The New Jersey Civil Service Commission lists the hire, effective August 17, 2011, as $55,000, though Blaettler questioned why Tattoli’s salary was listed as just $30,000 in a request for employment approval from the State Department of Community Affairs in October 19, 2010.
Since Union City receives transitional aid, they must have all of their hires approved by the DCA, prompting Blaettler to call the hire more fiscal irresponsibility from Union City Mayor/state Senator (D-33) Brian Stack.
Stack did not return calls seeking comment.