Friday, December 7, 2012
West Deptford officials give attorney Mark Cimino the green light to file an appeal following the dismissal of Fulton Bank loan lawsuit.
When it comes to the Fulton Bank lawsuit, township redevelopment attorney Mark Cimino is far from throwing in the towel. And apparently, so is the township committee, which voted unanimously to allow Cimino to file an appeal—contingent on the premise that attorney’s fees can not exceed $10,000. The motion passed unanimously at Thursday night's township committee meeting. Committeewoman Donna Szymborski was absent. While the committee sailed through most of the agenda, the members entered into closed session to discuss the recently dismissed lawsuit and various issues relating to the finance department. After emerging more than an hour later, Committeeman Samuel Cianfarini motioned for the appeal, second by Deputy Mayor Sean Kilpatrick. “…
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West Deptford Township Municipal Building
400 Crown Point Rd, West Deptford, NJ
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Saturday, November 17, 2012
The lawsuit contended that the township shouldn't have to pay $4.1 million of a loan used for construction of the RiverWinds golf course and tennis center.
The township can't get out of paying $4.1 million of a loan used for construction of the golf course and tennis center at RiverWinds, a judge has ruled. State Superior Court Judge Anne McDonnell on Friday dismissed West Deptford's lawsuit against Fulton Bank, which contended the lender had not provided documentation fully detailing how that portion of the $10 million loan was spent. The township filed the lawsuit in September, seeking a complete accounting from the bank, and asking that loan be reduced by $4.1 million. The judge found the township was bound by the original loan guaranty signed in 2001, but she did not rule on the issue of whether the $4.1 million had been properly accounted for. Attorney Christopher Gibson, who …
Friday, October 12, 2012
Democrat Gerald White releases statement after township attorney Mark Cimino turns down his "suggestions."
While many governmental issues have found their way into the West Deptford political stream lately, the newest development comes from a lawsuit involving the township, Fulton Bank and allegedly misappropriated loan money. The issue has current and former township officials bickering as questions about the money remain unanswered. In a statement released this week, former township administrator and current West Deptford Democratic Party chair Gerald White contends that the lawsuit is “ a politically motivated smear campaign” targeting him. “It’s saddening to see how toxic the government and political scene have become in the township,” White said. West Deptford's township committee voted in September to sue Fulton Bank for approving …
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West Deptford Township Municipal Building
400 Crown Point Rd, West Deptford, NJ
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Friday, September 7, 2012
West Deptford is taking legal action to try to recoup money spent beyond the scope of construction costs in the RiverWinds golf and tennis project.
West Deptford is suing Fulton Bank to try to recoup millions of dollars from the RiverWinds golf and tennis loan, after the township committee unanimously approved Thursday allowing redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino to take legal action against the bank for approving payments beyond what the township guaranteed. The township could potentially be in line to take back as much as $4 million from the nearly $10 million, township-guaranteed loan, thanks to a tight legal reading of the loan’s terms, Cimino said in a presentation to the committee. After a nearly month-long look into about 130 page of loan documents from Fulton Bank, Cimino outlined dozens of disbursements from the loan—everything from $1,200 in K-Swiss shoes to $9,000 in printing…
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The bank turned over 130 pages of documents related to the RiverWinds loan Wednesday.
Just days after West Deptford officials filed a court motion demanding the release of loan information related to the RiverWinds golf and tennis project, Fulton Bank turned over 130 pages of documents, delivering them to the township's attorneys Wednesday morning. But despite the sizable sheaf of paper, township redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino said his initial look at the information indicates more may be necessary. “Unfortunately, the documents raise more questions than they answer,” he said. “There’s a few areas of concern.” The big one is still exactly where the money went from the $9.945 million loan. Cimino said his initial look into what Fulton Bank turned over doesn’t tell him everything he needs to know about the disbursements, …
Saturday, July 28, 2012
The township is putting more pressure on Fulton Bank to produce information about a nearly $10 million loan that went to building the RiverWinds golf course and tennis center.
With still nothing in hand after six weeks of waiting on documents regarding the nearly $10 million loan that went to building the RiverWinds golf course and tennis center, West Deptford officials have taken the next step and pushed the matter into the courts. Redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino filed a petition Friday to put further pressure on Fulton Bank to release the loan documents, which could clear up the mystery surrounding what Cimino says is about $4.5 million from the township-guaranteed loan that’s unaccounted for, given the projected costs for the golf course and tennis center. “Like I‘ve said before, there may be a reason for what happened,” Cimino said. “The issue here is that they need to produce the documents that back up …
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino said he hasn't gotten any of the information he's requested from Fulton Bank, and the township committee gave him the go-ahead to use the courts to intervene.
A month after the original presentation with still no sign of documents from Fulton Bank on the construction loan for the RiverWinds golf course and tennis center, the West Deptford committee moved Thursday night to let the township’s redevelopment counsel push legal means to force the bank’s hand. That would mean petitioning the court to compel Fulton Bank to release the information in an effort to track down the unaccounted-for $4.5 million from that loan, redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino said. Despite overtures from bank officials that the records were in the process of being turned over, Cimino said he’s still at square one, with nothing in his hands on the construction loan. “I’m not going to speculate as to the reason for the delay…
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Republican officials continue to press for answers about how $4.5 million out of a $10 million loan to build the golf course and tennis center was spent.
With no answers nearly two weeks after West Deptford’s redevelopment counsel claimed there was $4.5 million unaccounted for in the RiverWinds golf and tennis project—an assertion Democrats have said holds no water—Republican officials are ramping up the rhetoric as they press for concrete answers. West Deptford Republican Chair Dennis Forte called the Democrats’ dismissal of the idea the money is missing—former township administrator Gerald White called the claim "a blatant lie"—nothing more than smoke and mirrors. “The bottom line is those dollars are unaccounted for,” Forte said. With neither side able to produce hard evidence of how a total of nearly $10 million was spent in building the golf course and tennis center, Forte said the …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Claims of a missing $4.5 million were done without proof, West Deptford Democrats said.
The $4.5 million that allegedly went missing from the RiverWinds golf project isn’t missing at all, according to West Deptford Democrats, who accused township redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino of intentionally misleading the public by presenting findings without the full establishing documentation. At his presentation before the township committee and dozens of members of the public last week, Cimino highlighted a huge gap between what loan documents said the cost of the golf course and tennis center would be—about $5.4 million—and the total loan from Fulton Bank, which came in at $9.945 million. But by making that presentation without all the facts—and Cimino admitted during the presentation to not having all the loan documents he was …
Thursday, June 14, 2012
There's no accounting for nearly half of a nearly $10 million loan, according to the township's counsel for redevelopment.
More than $4 million from the RiverWinds Golf and Tennis Center project went missing at some point during construction, and the bankruptcy of former redeveloper Namwest left West Deptford taxpayers on the hook for the entirety of a nearly $10 million loan, redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino revealed Thursday night. Closing documents obtained by Cimino showed the golf course and tennis center were to be built for a total of $5.4 million, but there’s no accounting for where the balance of the loan, somewhat more than $4.5 million, went at this point, Cimino said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of that,” Cimino said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t dig deeper…unfortunately, the township is now on the hook for the $9.945 million.” The money …
Tom Stanton
3:58 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
Obviously we won't know if it is money well spent until the appeal is heard in front of the court. Where there is smoke, there is fire. The question is, will the court truly hear the case, or simply just toss it away? There must have been enough information presented in the closed door meeting for the committee to vote unanimously to pursue the appeal. From what I have seen, Mrs. DiCarlo will not… more ›