Former Howell Township Manager Joseph Clark has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was subjected to retaliation, public humiliation, and age discrimination after he refused to implement rental housing ordinances he claims were designed to racially profile immigrants and unlawfully strip tenants of their rights.
The complaint, filed on July 25 in state court, names Mayor John Leggio, Councilman Ian Nadel, Councilwoman Susan Fischer, Municipal Clerk Diane Festino, and the Township of Howell as defendants. Clark’s lawsuit accuses township leadership of violating New Jersey’s whistleblower protection law—known as the Conscientious Employee Protection Act—as well as the state’s Law Against Discrimination.
Clark abruptly resigned from his position in June, shortly before assuming a new role as administrator of Stone Harbor, a shore town in Cape May County. His lawsuit claims that the resignation followed months of internal resistance to ordinances that he believed were unconstitutional, racially motivated, and far beyond the lawful authority of the township.
According to the suit, the conflict began when Clark objected to a series of proposals aimed at overhauling rental housing enforcement in Howell. These proposed ordinances, championed by Leggio and Nadel, allegedly targeted immigrant tenants, requiring them to prove citizenship or legal residency before being allowed to rent. The measures would also have enabled the township to revoke rental Certificates of Occupancy if tenants failed to show a valid state ID with a matching address within 60 days, or if there had been arrests or police calls—sometimes even unrelated to the property itself.
The lawsuit claims the intent of the proposals was made abundantly clear in internal communications. In one text message cited in the filing, Nadel reportedly referred to two teenagers as “Mexicans” who had stolen bikes and suggested their names be cross-referenced with rental records. In another instance, Nadel is said to have requested access to school rosters so that township officials could verify children’s addresses and housing status. According to the complaint, five days later Nadel profiled two minors as likely renters “based on visual appearances and the common occupants of rental properties.”
The lawsuit also references a conversation in which Nadel reportedly proposed that code enforcement officers drive through town on recycling days and look for homes with large numbers of Modelo beer bottles—suggesting this would indicate the presence of undocumented immigrants due to the beer’s popularity in the Mexican community.
Tensions escalated after a June 5 homicide in Howell. Following the arrest of a local resident in the case, Nadel allegedly texted Clark saying it was time for a “full-on ban on illegal aliens renting in our town.” The next day, Leggio and Nadel issued a joint public statement expressing outrage that “certain township officials” had allowed the conditions leading to the murder and pledged to introduce new ordinances to address quality-of-life issues.
Clark submitted a formal internal complaint on June 9, documenting what he described as a pattern of discriminatory and unlawful directives, including frequent instances where he said the mayor dismissed his concerns or implied that he was too old to handle the job. “It feels as if my age is a problem for him,” Clark wrote in his report. He also alleged that Mayor Leggio had referred to certain Howell police officers using derogatory slurs.
The situation came to a head on the morning of June 24. After submitting his resignation, Clark says he was unexpectedly suspended by township officials without proper notice and in direct contradiction to legal advice from Howell’s labor counsel. Municipal Clerk Diane Festino reportedly told staff earlier that day that a “plan was in place” and advised them to watch the evening’s township meeting, claiming “it was going to be good.”
Clark says the suspension was part of an orchestrated effort to publicly discredit him and pin township tensions on his refusal to support what he believed were unconstitutional policies. The lawsuit claims that the retaliation included discussing his employment in executive sessions without legal notice and publicly suggesting that Clark bore responsibility for the recent homicide.
Meanwhile, the same council members named in the lawsuit are moving ahead with proposals to further regulate rental housing. At a July 29 council meeting, officials introduced a new ordinance targeting sober living homes and indicated additional housing legislation is in the pipeline. Among the proposals being considered are bans on boarding houses in residential neighborhoods, stricter rental registrations, and expanded inspection requirements for landlords.
Township officials have not publicly commented on the lawsuit. The case is expected to move into the discovery phase in the coming months.