Parsippany-Troy Hills Town Council Deflects its Responsibility

Release September 10, 2021

From the Office Paul G. Argen: Chief Compliance Officer & Spokesperson

At a town council meeting that took place on the evening of Tuesday, September 7, 2021, three representatives from AJACO Towing, Inc. were in attendance, taking advantage of their right to speak before the council and deliver their Notice to Appeal the order of sanctions by the Chief of Police that repealed the company’s towing rotation contract.

Twice during his address to the council, AJACO's Chief Compliance Officer, Paul Argen, gave the council notice that the company wished to appeal the township’s decision to terminate its contract. However, the town council ignored the request.

Essentially, Mr. Lott, the Township Attorney, refused to accept the company’s request to appeal, deflecting the council’s responsibility to hear or schedule the said appeal. Mr. Argen, along with AJACO owner Jason Cleffi and his brother, who owns the property on which AJACO Towing, Inc., does business, left the meeting on Tuesday with no response from the council to their request to have their appeal heard.

Mr. Lott responded not by addressing the Notice of Appeal but instead by insisting on giving legal advice on criminal, civil tort, or internal affair matters by saying,

“If you believe that there’s been a crime committed, you should see the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office… If you’re dissatisfied with the police response that you received the day of the incident, you should contact the internal affairs section of the police department. If you believe that you have a tort claim against the township, then you should file a tort claim notice… If you or your brother or others at the yard feel like they’re being threatened or harassed, they should call the Parsippany police immediately.”

Mr. Lott said nothing about the company’s request to appeal the township’s decision. Noticing this, Mr. Argen pointed out, “It’s deferring the whole thing.”

Mr. Lott’s reply was, “It’s not deferring the whole thing. It’s the appropriate response.”

Not so, according to the original January 2021 renewal application to be added to the township’s towing rotational duty list and contract submitted by AJACO Towing, Inc. to the township of Parsippany-Troy Hills. Mr. Lott, as the township’s attorney, should be familiar with that document, which includes the statement, “I understand that any sanctions imposed by the Chief of Police may be appealed to the Township Council.”

The substance of AJACO’s interaction with the town council at the September 7 meeting, which can be viewed here [link], is as follows.

Paul Argen introduced himself as AJACO Towing, Inc.’s Chief Compliance Officer before saying, “It’s a very sad day in Parsippany. Mr. Mayor Soriano has attempted to incite racism within this town, and my company is the subject of the accusations that we condone racism. I want to stand up here first and foremost to say we don’t condone racism in any way, shape, or form. As a matter of fact, as compliance officer and a fraud examiner, we have concluded an investigation, something that the mayor did not do and the chief of police did not do, nor did Mr. Carr do. They failed to do an investigation, but they utilized the public information office in a very corrupt way that’s criminal. It’s criminal so much so that you cannot use that office, which we rely on.”

During Mr. Argen’s address, Township Council President Michael J. DePierro informed him that he should address the council as a whole rather than pointing at the mayor and addressing Mr. Soriano directly. Left unsaid was the irony of the situation: that Mayor Soriano effectively pointed his finger at AJACO Towing, Inc., branding the company and its employees as racist without first conducting any kind of investigation and using the Public Information Office to distribute defamatory remarks.

Mr. Argen continued, “I believe, and there is an investigation undertaken, that the mayor has acted criminally for using the public information office for his own benefit without a mere investigation… [The mayor] decided to go to [the] Pella Window and Door grand opening when we told him it’s life and death at our company because we’re getting death threats; we’re getting people that are coming in the middle of the night to these people’s homes... A convicted felon preyed upon our company for six hours, and …. we told the Parsippany police to get him off our property …. Racism may occur in Dover, it may occur in Elizabeth, but not on my campus, okay? And no mayor is going to incite racism in this town at our expense.”

Next, Mr. Argen made the reason for AJACO Towing, Inc.’s presence at the town council meeting clear, saying, “The council is thereby put on notice that we are appealing.”

He continued, “We gave the mayor the opportunity to redact it and do an investigation... The typical transaction at AJACO Towing is less than ten minutes. This gentleman was there for six hours. And the police were asked twelve times on tape: get him off my property. We’re not gonna tolerate that, if the police aren’t going to protect us…”

Mr Cleffi mentioned his fear for his family’s lives as a result of the libelous press release authorized by Mayor Soriano. “...I get a phone call [at] 11:30 at night, ‘come outside’… and when I go outside, I see a car fleeing the scene. I have five children to protect, and when it comes down to it, you got a beef with me, you got a beef with AJACo towing -- you take it up with me; you don’t take it up with my five children or my family… I don’t care what color your skin is, if you’re a person inside and out, that’s all that matters to me.”

Mr. Lott told Mr. Argen and the Cleffi brothers that the termination of AJACO’s contract was “not a decision for [the] mayor and council. It was a decision made by the chief of police.”

However, the chief of police previously told Paul Argen that he, the mayor, and business administrator Frederick Carr met in person and colluded to make the decision to cease working with AJACO Towing, Inc. Moreover the contract allows counsel to hear an appeal.

Very simply, AJACO Towing, Inc. requests its right be upheld to have its appeal heard by the town council without delay. While it is beginning to appear that the outcome of any such appeal is predetermined, an upstanding company that has been in business for 27 years and has worked with the township for nine years deserves to have its appeal heard and to be afforded the right of due process before finalizing such a decision, which has the potential to be catastrophic both for AJACO Towing, Inc. and the citizens of Parsippany-Troy Hills.