At the October 23, 2024 Toms River Council meeting, Daniel Rodrick told the Council and Township that he “found” $2M of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which could be used for temporary hotel accommodations for those in need over the winter and the Council passed a resolution for $250,000 to be used for this purpose. Over the past 8 months we have searched and searched for hotel invoices and uncovered about $10,000 in receipts and invoices and wondered “how did Daniel Rodrick house 30 plus individuals with no invoices or vouchers?” (rhetorical question of course)
What none of us knew at the time, including the Township Council, was that Daniel Rodrick was negotiating an agreement with attorney Jeff Wild of Lowenstein Sandler LLP on behalf of the unhoused to provide “one-half year of safe indoor housing.” The agreement is below which states “the Township shall pay, to the extent needed, for six months of Safe Indoor Housing for the Clients, in exchange for the Clients’ voluntarily vacating the Park….” You will notice the agreement is signed by Daniel Rodrick, Mayor of Toms River on November 1, 2024. What is not signed is an amendment to the agreement that states “CSPNJ would like to clarify that although it has provided assistance to some of the Clients, CSPNJ is not a party to the Agreement and has no obligations whatsoever under the Agreement.” This is dated November 15, 2024.
We are unclear as to why the amendment or what specifically happened, but what we know is that CSPNJ provided the necessary housing, from their grant money and not Toms River Township, so Daniel Rodrick has about $235,000 in approved funding for housing those in need and HAS DONE NOTHING, ONCE AGAIN TO HELP!
Read for yourself!