Cinnaminson Township Committee postpones decision to fire administrator, public safety director Michael King
Township Solicitor Kelly Grant said the move to postpone the decision on King’s future was made after consulting with the municipality’s insurance company
Cinnaminson Administrator Michael “Mickey” King was still employed by the township at the end of the April 16 Township Committee meeting.
The Committee voted to table a pair of measures on the agenda that would have fired King, who also serves as director of public safety, and appointed Township Chief Financial Officer Julia Edmondson as acting administrator.
King recently filed a lawsuit against the township claiming municipal officials were retaliating against him for cooperating with law enforcement on several investigations, including an ethics probe into Deputy Mayor Donald Braukmann.
He has been suspended since March, according to court filings.
Township Solicitor Kelly Grant said the move to postpone the decision on King’s future was made after consulting with the municipality’s insurance company.
“The township insurance carrier requires additional time to review the litigation and, therefore, we have decided not to proceed with taking any formal action concerning Mr. King’s employment this evening,” Grant said during the meeting.
Grant said she did not have a timetable for the insurance provider’s review and did not know when further action would be taken on King’s employment status.
King’s attorney, Patricia Barasch, said, after the vote to table the resolutions, she and her client would not comment on the situation for the time being.
Resident Ken Miller criticized the Committee’s decision to postpone King’s firing, and he received applause from many gathered in a packed Municipal Building.
“This should have been done today,” Miller said. “We can’t fill this void until you’ve made a decision on this guy’s future or lack thereof.”
“You’ve got a group of people here that are waiting for this guy to be gone,” he said. “You got a snake on the table. All you’ve got to do is cut its head off.”
Miller said he thought the township was going to vigorously fight King’s lawsuit.
Grant said the township stands by a statement she released last week denying King’s allegations and vowing to fight his lawsuit in court.
“I don’t think the township has stopped defending this matter,” she said. “The position from Thursday hasn’t changed to Monday.”
“I don’t think the Committee changed their defense strategy for the township” in any way, she added.
It’s unclear how the decision to postpone King’s firing will affect the lawsuit because the court filing mentions the draft resolution that was later tabled.
In the complaint, which was filed April 12 in Superior Court, King alleges the township has violated the state’s whistleblower law.
He is seeking to keep his job and receive monetary compensation for damages, according to the lawsuit.
King claims township officials unfairly suspended him March 15 and later suspended him without pay on April 9.
Grant would not say at the meeting whether King was suspended with or without pay — only that he was still an employee of the township.
The complaint states King is a protected whistleblower because he provided information to the FBI, state police, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and Cinnaminson police for an investigation into Brauckmann.
As previously reported in The Sun, Township Committee in October referred an internal investigation into Brauckmann to the state Department of Community Affairs and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Brauckmann is accused of promising to vote to approve former Deputy Mayor Ben Young to the position of director of public works in exchange for getting his wife a job at Rowan College at Burlington County.
At the time, Brauckmann criticized the move to refer the case to DCA and the Prosecutor’s Office, saying the referral was the result of two men who had personal issues with him — former Mayor Anthony Minniti and Young. They were the only two on Committee to vote to refer the investigation.
Neither man currently serves on Township Committee.
