Council tells Pemberton Township mayor to leave his post; will he resign?

PEMBERTON TWP. — Controversial Mayor Jack Tompkins won the wrong kind of political trifecta this week: an official censure, a law enforcement case referral, and a resignation demand from Township Council.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution incorporating those three positions at a special meeting on April 16. The meeting was called solely to decide what to do about Tomkins based on an in-house investigation of complaints multiple employees have made in the past year about him.

The resolution reads in part: “Since taking office in January 2023, the mayor has consistently engaged in a course of workplace conduct that violates the township’s anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and anti-retaliation polices.

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“The mayor’s conduct includes but is not limited to: Serious acts of sexual harassment against a female employee, a disturbing pattern of retaliatory conduct and threats of retaliation against township employees, and inappropriate and flirtatious interactions with minor females employed by the township,” the resolution adds.

The resolution also states that Tompkins would be immediately fired were he an employee. Instead, council members agreed to censure the mayor, to turn over the report to police and or the county prosecutor, and to demand his resignation.

Tompkins was not at the meeting.

Now, residents generally and municipal employees and officials in particular are waiting to see if Tompkins will take the hints and quit his office. Tompkins is only in year two of his term and if he decides to stay only a successful recall election can remove him.

Meanwhile, Tompkins has to worry about a civil lawsuit filed last fall in Burlington County Superior Court.

Tompkins is a co-defendant, with the township and its business administrator, against claims of sexual discrimination and retaliatory actions. Nichole Pittman, the director of Parks and Senior Services, is suing them.

Pemberton and Administrator Daniel Hornickel are sharing legal counsel. They are accused of not taking action to stop Tompkins’s behavior after complaints were filed.

Tompkins has a different attorney, who could not be reached immediately on Thursday.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, officials said the investigative report will not be available for one to two weeks. The delay is to go through the 18-page, single-spaced report to redact personnel information deemed confidential.

The resolution council approved states that 37 employees, plus the mayor, were interviewed for between 30 minutes and 2 and a half hours. Documents also were studied.

Besides Pittman, it was disclosed that three women from three separate departments made complaints about Tomkins. One woman did so on behalf of her minor daughter.

The township’s legal costs are covered by an insurance policy through its Joint Insurance Fund, including some damages if awarded. However, if Pittman wins and is awarded punitive damages, the township itself must pay it.

The case was assigned a mediator on April 9, but it will go before a jury if a settlement is not reached. A judge has set October 16 for a management conference, at which time discovery and depositions should be complete.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Pemberton Township mayor faces council call to give up seat