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Maltese v. Township of North Brunswick6/20/2002
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Argued: June 5, 2002
In this appeal we examine a challenge to the trial court's application of the doctrine of equitable estoppel to compel a municipality to pay benefits and compensation promised to an employee lawfully appointed by the mayor under circumstances where the mayor lacked the power to bind the municipality.
Defendant, Township of North Brunswick, appeals from entry of orders on May 25, 2001, granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, Thomas Maltese, against the Township in the amount of $123,216.68, and denying the Township's motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of plaintiff's complaint.
We conclude that summary judgment was improvidently granted. The promises and representations of the mayor were ultra vires. The mayor possessed the statutory authority to appoint plaintiff but lacked the power to establish his compensation and benefits. That authority was vested with the council, which had the power to provide plaintiff with the benefits promised by the mayor.
Accordingly, we hold that the focus of the equitable estoppel analysis must be upon the actions taken by the council, not the mayor. The record presented is insufficient to determine whether any actions taken by the council justify application of equitable estoppel against the municipality to compel payment of the benefits sought or otherwise manifested an intention to ratify the mayor's agreement with plaintiff. We therefore reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, affirm the denial of summary judgment to the Township, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The facts giving rise to plaintiff's claim against the Township are not disputed. Plaintiff served as Deputy Director of Public Safety for the Township of North Brunswick from June 1, 1994 through December 31, 1994, and then as Director of Public Safety from January 1, 1995 through December 31, 1999.
Plaintiff was appointed to those positions by Paul Matacera, then the Mayor of North Brunswick. Beginning in early 1994, Mayor Matacera recruited plaintiff, who at the time was Deputy Chief of Investigations with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. During his recruitment of plaintiff, Mayor Matacera advised plaintiff the starting annual gross salary would be $67,500 as Deputy Director of Public Safety, and in six months he would be elevated to the position of Director of Public Safety with an annual gross salary of approximately $71,000.
Plaintiff was interested in the offered position; however his gross annual salary with the prosecutor's office was $95,000, and plaintiff was reluctant to suffer such a significant decrease in income. After additional discussions, plaintiff informed the mayor that he would accept the position if he could also be provided all of the benefits that were included in the Township's collective bargaining agreement with the North Brunswick Superior Officers' Association (SOA).
Benefits under the SOA agreement included, inter alia, longevity pay equal to 12.5% of base salary for those officers with twenty-five years' seniority, overtime, cashing-in of accrued vacation time, holiday pay, reimbursement for college education tuition and the cost of books, payment for accumulated sick days, schedule adjustment pay, and compensatory time.
The mayor represented to plaintiff that he would receive all of the benefits afforded to employees covered under the SOA collective bargaining agreement and agreed that plaintiff's longevity pay would be computed based upon twenty-five years of seniority, since plaintiff h
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