The Jersey Journal article has a picture and you could clearly see a mechanic's work light underneath the vehicle. Why would they need the light UNDER the car to put air in tires? No reason, but the county official has to lie because most government officials are used to being able to get away with things as long as they lie their way through a story. Hopefully, we can become less complacent and demand that rules and regulations are enforced. If she took it in for an oil change, just admit it, pay the fees, and take whatever consequences come with breaking the rules.

Hudson freeholder says he wants to see records of internal probe of allegations that county supervisor's SUV got free service at county garage

Tuesday, January 04, 2011
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF REPORTER

After yesterday's Jersey Journal story about a county supervisor's SUV being serviced at the county garage, a Hudson County freeholder has asked to review documents related to the original investigation into the incident.

Freeholder Bill O'Dea said yesterday he has asked for a report on an internal probe into how and why the Cadillac Escalade owned by Hudson County Roads Division Chief Ann Iannicco ended up on a hydraulic lift at the county repair facility on Duncan Avenue in Jersey City on Oct. 26.

Yesterday's Jersey Journal story featured a photograph of Iannicco's vehicle on the lift. The photo was taken by Jorge Guerrero, a former county mechanic who was fired by the county on Nov. 4 after failing to keep an appointment with an anger management doctor.

County officials said yesterday they attempted to investigate allegations of theft of services after Guerrero filed a complaint, but said Guerrero refused to cooperate with the investigation and never shared his photos with them.

Guerrero said yesterday that since he was challenging his termination at the time, he did not want to meet with county lawyers without legal representation.

O'Dea said he planned to bring up the matter at today's freeholder meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. at 567 Pavonia Ave. in Jersey City.

O'Dea - who is expected to be voted in tonight as the body's new chairman - said he wants the three-member freeholders personnel committee to decide whether or not the investigation should be farmed out to an independent investigator to avoid conflicts of interest.

County spokesman Jim Kennelly said Iannicco told county investigators that an employee was putting air in a tire on her vehicle when the picture was snapped. The employee was doing this as a favor and without her knowledge, Iannicco said, according to Kennelly.

Guerrero insists the mechanic was performing a lubrication job on the car.

of course his new escalade needed repairs after a few runs down Columbus Drive...

I heard that more will be coming OUT including a council person's relative who messed up few county cars !!!

Well why did the SUV have to be on the lift if it only had low tire pressure?
That can be done on the ground.

Roads chief services car at city expense, fired mechanic claims

Monday, January 03, 2011
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

About a week before he was canned from his job as a mechanic with the Hudson County Road Division in November, Jorge Guerrero snapped a photo of his boss' personal Cadillac Escalade on a lift at the county repair facility on Duncan Avenue.

The boss - Hudson County Roads Division Chief Ann Iannico - said that a county worker was only putting air into the SUVs tires, according to a county spokesman.

But Guerrero, who said he was fired on Nov. 4 after missing an anger management appointment with a doctor, said that Iannico's apparent claim that a county employee was only putting air in the tires of the SUV on Oct. 26 is a bunch of hot air.

"They have got to be kidding with that story," Guerrero said last week. "He (the employee) was underneath the truck and started lubing. I never saw him touch a nipple to any of the tires.

"He was using everything that the taxpayers paid for - including the lube," Guerrero added. "The rules and regulations they put in themselves say that employees can't work on their own vehicles on county property and cannot bring a private car into the garage for any reason."

Iannico could not be reached to comment.

County spokesman Jim Kennelly said that after Guerrero filed his complaint, the county investigated and found that neither Iannico, nor the mechanic who put her personal SUV on the lift, did anything improper.

Kennelly said that Iannico made the point during the investigation that her SUV was too new to need any extensive work.

She told investigators that the county employee volunteered to park her SUV in the garage after she decided to leave it in the county lot overnight while visiting relatives on Danforth Avenue, according to Kennelly.

Iannico said the employee who drove the vehicle into the garage noticed the vehicle had low tire pressure and decided to fill the tire with air as a favor, Kennelly said.

"No specific allegations have been substantiated," he added. Kennelly insisted Guerrero took the photographs because he was a "discontented employee" who knew he was being fired.

Guerrero, who maintains he was unfairly suspended over an incident with another employee in 2009, said he found out he was to be dismissed on his last day of work, Nov. 4, and was told it was because he missed an anger management appointment with a doctor.