A slate of ordinances backed by Mayor Daniel Rodrick that would have dramatically shifted authority away from the Township Council and paved the way to dissolve the local Municipal Utilities Authority collapsed Wednesday night in a chaotic meeting marked by political accusations, procedural confusion and a public rupture inside the Republican-controlled government.
In a series of first-reading votes, the council rejected every ordinance tied to restructuring its own powers and dismantling the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), with Council President Justin Lamb breaking from Rodrick and joining Tom Nivison, Jim Quinlisk and David Ciccozzi to block the measures. Councilman William Byrne and Councilwoman Lynn O’Toole backed the mayor’s agenda, while Vice President Craig Coleman split his votes and abstained on several items.
Rodrick, who has relied on Lamb for key votes throughout the year, launched into a blistering tirade accusing the council president of caving to “political bosses” in Ocean County’s GOP establishment.
“You could have saved taxpayers $2.5 million a year,” Rodrick said as the council rejected a late-added resolution seeking state approval to dissolve the MUA. “It’s pretty clear this council is bought and owned by the same political interests.”
Rodrick and Business Administrator Jon Salonis abruptly left the meeting — followed moments later by O’Toole — before public comment began. The video livestream was cut shortly afterward.
Lamb, whose term expires at the end of December, framed his votes as an act of restraint by a lame-duck official. With just seven weeks left in office, he said, it would be “unfair” and “inappropriate” to rewrite major pieces of township governance.
He repeatedly defended the council’s “advice and consent” authority over mayoral appointments as a critical check on executive overreach.
“There should be some tension between the council and the mayor,” Lamb said. “Tension in government is good. It keeps things fair.”
He also rejected measures that would have reshaped agenda-setting powers, altered procedures for approving claims, reduced positions in the clerk’s office and changed hiring authority for assistant township attorneys, calling some proposals “draconian” and others simply bad governance.
On the most politically charged proposals — dissolving the MUA and absorbing its wastewater operations — Lamb said he could not support the plan without basic financial clarity. The authority held more than $8.5 million in outstanding bonds at the start of 2025.
“I don’t know what the new numbers are on this, and it feels rushed,” he said. “For that reason alone, I vote no.”
The mayor, who campaigned on aggressively reshaping township government and cutting costs, responded by accusing Lamb of acting on behalf of Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore.
Rodrick went further, alleging that Lamb’s wife had been promised a county job and a future appointment as Ocean County Clerk.
“I wonder what George promised Justin?” Rodrick wrote in an email.
The mayor’s push to abolish the MUA has been a year-long political battle. Rodrick has labeled the authority a “patronage pit” and accused commissioners of collecting excessive benefits for minimal work, pointing to line items in the 2025 MUA budget listing more than $40,000 in health and pension benefits for some members.
MUA commissioners Charles Valvano and Sam Ellenbogen are the only two receiving benefits in that range; commissioner Phil Brilliant — a frequent Rodrick critic — receives about $17,300 in additional compensation.
“Residents shouldn’t have to pay outrageous sewer bills to an authority that doesn’t need to exist,” Rodrick said. “Dissolving the MUA would’ve saved taxpayers millions of dollars.”
But Lamb and other council members said the mayor provided virtually no details about how the township would absorb the authority’s debt, personnel, operations or liabilities — a step required by state law before the Local Finance Board can authorize dissolution.
The meeting showcased an increasingly fractured Republican leadership heading into the new year, when a new council majority will take office. Lamb, who spent much of the year aligned with Rodrick, now finds himself departing on openly hostile terms with the mayor.
There is one council meeting left for 2024 — scheduled for Dec. 10 — but Wednesday’s confrontation suggests the township may be entering a deeper period of intra-party turmoil.