Barry Colicelli also claims the city was under pressure from the state fiscal monitor to fire him
TRENTON -- Trenton's former "gang czar" has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city, saying he was fired a day after alerting city officials to mismanagement and waste within the YouthStat anti-gang program.
File photo of Barry Colicelli, right, with former Mayor Douglas Palmer Barry Colicelli, who was hired in 2004 as a special assistant to former Mayor Douglas Palmer, also claims the city was under pressure from state fiscal monitor Tina Vignale to fire him after he brought to light issues with several city department directors.
"Those were people that she hired," his attorney, Sebastian Ionno, said. "It was a motive to retaliate for showing that these people weren't doing their jobs and engaging in illegal activity."
Ionno said Colicelli was trying to move the city in the right direction.
"He pointed out things that were illegal and improper and ultimately, he paid the price for it by losing his job," he said.
Colicelli, a retired Newark police captain, was brought on by Palmer and tasked with curbing the level of violence in the city.
As part of his job, he created YouthStat, a federally funded program that coordinates with several agencies and organizations to target at-risk youth as young as 9 or 10 years old.
He worked alongside Lois Krause, who he says attended the meetings but was not involved in developing or managing the program.
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In 2008, Krause faced a forced retirement because of budget cuts and Colicelli's position as special assistant was eliminated after Palmer chose not to run for re-election, the suit says.
After the YouthStat program was left unattended for a year, Palmer rehired Colicelli in December 2009 as the program coordinator with a salary of $61,000.
After city council declined to renew his contract in December 2010, the position was briefly filled by Dan Toto, then-Mayor Tony Mack's former campaign manager, before Krause was hired in March 2011.
Colicelli sued the city alleging that Krause's bid and selection by the city was improper. The outcome of that suit was not immediately known.
In February 2012, Colicelli says he was asked by the city's attorney and finance director to evaluate Krause's performance over concerns that she was mismanaging program funds.
He allegedly found that $76,000 in funds had been wasted and federal funds were frozen multiple times after Krause failed to submit reports or properly administrate the funds.
Colicelli was rehired in March 2014 as a special assistant to Councilman George Muschal during his brief stint as mayor following Mack's ouster.
Colicelli claims that Muschal asked him to conduct confidential investigations into several city department directors.
His investigations allegedly found that Police Director Ralph Rivera was authorizing costly items without approval from the mayor or business administrator, Fire Department Director Qareeb Bashir was mismanaging the department and Law Director Caryl Amana failed to pay various attorneys for work done and reporting use of compensatory time that she was not eligible to receive.
Colicelli's reports were given to Muschal, who then spoke with Vignale from the state.
"When Tina Vignale, (business administrator) Sam Hutchinson and (Local Government Services director) Thomas Neff realized that the investigations were performed by plaintiff, he became someone they felt they needed to remove from his position in supporting Mayor Muschal," the lawsuit reads.
When Mayor Eric Jackson was sworn in, Colicelli stayed on as part-time special assistant.
"Plaintiff began to see that no action was being taken on the issues uncovered by his investigations and that nothing he was trying to do with the YouthStat program was being acted on by Mayor Jackson's administration or the business administrator," the suit says. "It also became obvious that much of the resistance to his efforts was originating from Tina Vignale."
On Sept. 8, 2014, Colicelli says he submitted a lengthy report detailing Krause's mismanagement of YouthStat to Jackson, business administrator Terry McEwen and Chief of Staff Francis Blanco. He was fired the following day after being told the city wanted to take the program in a different direction.
Colicelli contends that nothing has been done with the program since he was fired.
He is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, back pay, front pay and reinstatement to his position.
YouthStat is now run by Ayana Abdul-Raheem, who previously served as a part-time coordinator alongside Krause when the program re-launched in October 2013.
A city spokesman declined to comment on the suit, citing a policy of not discussing pending litigation.
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
