Lois Krause, whose performance was criticized in a recent suit by a fired employee, strongly defended her record
TRENTON -- Trenton's former YouthStat coordinator Lois Krause, whose performance was criticized in a recent suit by a fired employee, strongly defended her record to City Council on Thursday.
File photo of Lois Krause, Trenton's former YouthStat coordinator "The plaintiff makes baseless, unfounded assertions about my job performance that are not supported with any facts," she said.
Barry Colicelli, the city's former "gang czar," sued the city last month, claiming that he was fired a day after he submitted a lengthy report detailing Krause's mismanagement to city officials.
Colicelli, who held various positions since 2004, was rehired in March 2014 by acting Mayor George Muschal as a part-time special assistant, with an apparent mandate to conduct confidential investigations into several city department directors and Krause.
During public comment on Thursday, Krause defended her record, saying that she managed to keep the program in tact despite being denied access to key information and a revolving door of business administrators.
MORE: Revamped Youthstat program aims to help at-risk Trenton youth
"At all times, while serving as YouthStat coordinator and in spite of enormous challenges presented by the previous administration, I performed every task with professionalism and always followed the highest of ethical standards," she said.
Krause worked alongside Colicelli when the program first launched in 2005 but was later hired in March 2011 as the coordinator, beating out Colicelli.
In his lawsuit, Colicelli said he investigated Krause in 2012 and again in 2014, both times accusing her of mismanagement and wasteful spending.
"To read in the press that I was subject to investigations by a person who competed unsuccessfully for the same position and had previously filed a lawsuit against that hiring was incomprehensible and utterly ridiculous," Krause said.
Krause, who had retired as the senior youth services coordinator for the Trenton police, said the lawsuit is a complete disregard of taxpayers' money.
"Their hard-earned dollars continue to be wasted defending the city against disgruntled employees with no stake in this community other than seeing personal financial gain," she said.
On Thursday, former police director Jim Golden threw his support behind Krause, calling her an "extraordinarily high performer," and urged the city to fight the lawsuit.
He also raised concerns about Colicelli's most recent role in the city.
"Was he brought in as YouthStat supervisor, was he covert ops, was he a private investigator?" he said. "What was his role and frankly, who sanctioned it?"
Golden, who served as director from 2000 to 2002, said Krause deserved nothing less than to be supported by the administration.
"I implore you, if you haven't finalized the action, please do not settle this case," he said. "Fight it to the nth degree and I believe strongly if you do that, the city will prevail."
Councilman Alex Bethea later said that City Council was unaware of Colicelli's hiring and job description and Muschal, the only person who could answer those questions, was absent.
"We do hear you and it is my hope from my seat on City Council that we do not give into nonsense and we fight it to make sure that we're not just throwing away money because of some complaint."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.