Fight over referendum on animal shelter in Toms River goes to court

TOMS RIVER – The dispute over the fate of the Toms River animal shelter ends up in court.

Phillip Brilliant was part of the petition committee that collected over 3,000 signatures to repeal an ordinance that allowed the shelter to be leased to Ocean County and filed the suit in Ocean County Superior Court.

The lawsuit asks a judge to order the overturning of an Aug. 7 resolution by which the township agreed to enter into a shared services agreement with the county to take over the Oak Avenue animal shelter. The shelter has been closed since June 6 and its staff has been laid off, with the exception of Dave Matthews, the top animal control officer.

The lawsuit also seeks to force the town to reopen the shelter and rehire all staff, to order Toms River to hold a referendum on the shelter ordinance on the November ballot, and to require the town to pay all legal costs.

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The judge is also being asked to order all defendants – including Mayor Daniel Rodrick, Economic Administrator Jon Salonis, Deputy Clerk of Court Stephen Hensel, Town Attorneys Gregory P. McGuckin and Peter Pascarella, and Town Council members Craig Coleman, Lynn O'Toole, George Lobman and Justin Lamb – to pay $1,000 each to support the shelter.

Pascarella responded to Brilliant's complaint with a letter calling the action “frivolous” and asking Brilliant to retract it.

You can see both the complaint and the community's response at the end of this story.

He noted that the Council had repealed the ordinance referred to in Brilliant's complaint and replaced the lease with a shared services agreement, which could be approved by resolution.

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“After the Petitions Committee submitted the referendum, the ordinance authorizing the lease of the Toms River Animal Shelter to the Ocean County Board of Health was repealed,” Pascarella wrote. “Furthermore, as you acknowledge in paragraph 36 of your verified complaint, the Town Council voted to repeal that ordinance on August 7, 2024. Accordingly, you have failed to show any violation of law by the defendants.”

He said the township will ask the judge to order Brilliant to pay Toms River's legal fees. The township must hire outside counsel because township attorneys McGuckin and Pascarella are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

“It's political, frivolous and will be dismissed in court,” Rodrick said of the lawsuit. “They've already been awarded the compensation they sought. … I'm going to have to hire outside counsel, which is going to cost us money. We're not going to pay those legal fees.”

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Fight over referendum on animal shelter in Toms River goes to court

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Fight over referendum on animal shelter in Toms River goes to court

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