Jackson Township, NJ – A dispute over public comment at a Jackson Township Council meeting has escalated into allegations of government retaliation after resident Adam Haidi said a township code enforcement officer arrived at his family’s home days after he criticized elected officials over spending and salaries.
It has been confirmed that Jackson Township Code Enforcement’s Ralph Seda was dispatched to Haidi’s home, but an investigation is now continuing to determine who ordered Seda to conduct the inspection and why.
The incident comes amid an increasingly contentious political environment in Jackson Township, where clashes between residents and elected officials have intensified over issues ranging from municipal spending to public participation during council meetings.
A contentious mayoral race between Interim Mayor Jennifer Kuhn and political outsider Elliott Shem-Tov has put township officials on edge as public outcry against Kuhn has escalated online since she was appointed as mayor by the council after Mayor Michael Reina resigned last year.
Haidi, who has become an outspoken critic of township financial decisions, says the sequence of events—from his public comments, to the abrupt end of the meeting, to the unexpected visit from code enforcement—raises serious concerns about whether township resources are being used against residents who criticize local government.
Township officials have not publicly addressed those allegations. Shore News Network reached out to Interim Mayor Kuhn and Business Administrator Charles Terenfenko. Both refused to comment on the matter.
Public comment ended after resident exceeded five-minute limit
The controversy began during a recent Jackson Township Council meeting when Haidi addressed council members during the public comment portion of the meeting.
According to Haidi, his comments focused on what he described as inappropriate township spending, Open Space acquisitions, and unusually high municipal salaries.
Haidi questioned the $5 million diversion of funds from the open space trust fund, intended to purchase and protect land from development, used instead to purchase playground equipment. Some of that township-purchased equipment was at the now-closed Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School. The town is still paying for that equipment, even though a plan launched by Palmeri while serving as President of the Jackson School Board sold that school to a private all-girls Orthodox yeshiva.
He said his remarks were based on township financial records and documents he obtained through New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). Haidi later said his initial estimate was wrong, the spending investigation he is conducting has climbed to nearly $10,000,000 in open space fund diversions.
Jackson Township limits public comments to five minutes per speaker.
Haidi acknowledged he exceeded that limit by approximately two minutes while continuing his presentation, but said Council President Mordechai Burnstein often allows speakers to exceed their limits, but only when they are talking positively about the mayor and the township.
Councilman Giuseppe Palmeri then made a motion to close the public comment portion of the meeting rather than continue hearing from additional residents who were lining up to lodge complaints about municipal spending and other alleged improprieties in the local government under Kuhn’s watch.
Those complaints include multiple lawsuits, real-estate transactions, alleged affairs with police officers, favoritism for developers, and the overall direction of the township under Kuhn.
Kuhn is already facing a federal civil lawsuit filed by resident Elenor Hannum. Hannum was forcibly removed by police at the direction of Kuhn after she alleged that Kuhn was sexually and romantically involved with a Jackson police officer. That lawsuit is still being heard in New Jersey federal court.
Council President Mordechai Burnstein accepted the motion and ended public comment, effectively concluding the meeting.
The decision drew criticism from residents who argued that ending public participation because one speaker exceeded the allotted time deprived other members of the public of the opportunity to address elected officials.
Councilman Palmeri requested police presence at future meetings to enforce five minute speaking rule
The dispute did not end when the meeting adjourned.
Days later, the Asbury Park Press reported that Councilman Palmeri sent an email to Mayor Jennifer Kuhn and the Jackson Township Police Department describing recent public comment sessions as “chaotic” and “a political strategy.”
Palmeri is under fire this week, after it was learned that he has accepted a public job from the Ocean County Board of Commissioners. Palmeri later went online to defend himself, saying the appointment was not because he was a councilman and it is not a political patronage job, even though the position he accepted was never advertised and the job title did not exist prior to Palmeri taking the job. He previously worked at Staples.
According to that report, Palmeri requested that police officers be deployed at future Township Council meetings.
Mayor Jennifer Kuhn subsequently announced that police officers would be assigned to future meetings to enforce decorum and remove individuals who refuse to comply with the township’s five-minute speaking limit or otherwise become disruptive.
Her opponent in this year’s election was not as camera-shy on the topic as the interim mayor.
“It’s all part of their plan to kill free speach and silence residents voices,” said Elliott Shem-Tov, who is running for mayor alongside Councilman Chris Pollak.
Shem-Tov said interim mayor Kuhn has engaged in more sweeping actions to intimidate the public and make it more difficult for residents to speak at public meetings as the November election nears.
Kuhn has removed a podium which had been in town hall for decades and allowed residents to use while speaking. Camera angles on live feeds have changed to document the entire room with cameras on speakers’ faces.
Shemtov adds that council meetings have cut short and the act of forcing speakers from the podium have increased under Kuhn.
“People want and need to see what their govt is doing. Transparency isn’t using the police as a tactic to quell angry residents who get passionate at the mic,” Shemtov said. “That’s a form of intimidation. And at what cost? Overtime to cops or pulling them off the road where they could be patrolling for real safety.”
Kuhn said the police enforcement is to protect her and the council from the residents of Jackson. In an Asbury Park Press interview, Kuhn admitted to calling the cops simply because a resident left her a voicemail disapproving of her governance, saying she should be removed from office.
Eight days later, code enforcement arrived at Haidi’s family home
Haidi says another unexpected event occurred eight days after the council meeting. A Jackson Township code enforcement officer appeared at his family’s residence to investigate whether the home was being used as a rental property.
He said he has never had any prior run-ins with code enforcement, which makes the timing suspicious.
Haidi recorded the interaction and later shared the video publicly on Facebook.
In social media posts accompanying the recording, Haidi said the officer told him he had been instructed by Township Business Administrator Charles Terrefenko, via telephone, to verify that the residence was not operating as a rental property.
Terefenko was asked about this by Shore News Network via email, but he did not respond to emails sent on Friday.
Haidi noted that his family has owned or occupied the property for decades and said this was the first time code enforcement had ever visited the residence.
“Eight days after questioning the Jackson Township Council during public comment about inappropriate spending and abnormally excessive salaries—a Jackson Township Code Enforcement Officer… showed up to my home to verify that it was ‘not a rental,'” Haidi wrote.
OPRA request initially returned “no responsive records”
Following the inspection, Haidi sought to determine why code enforcement had visited his home. That’s where an apparent cover-up began, according to Haidi.
He filed an OPRA request seeking all documents, communications, and records relating to the inspection. According to Haidi, the township responded that there were “no responsive records.”
Unsatisfied with that response, Haidi said he contacted multiple code enforcement officers directly.
According to Haidi, those employees told him documentation regarding the inspection had, in fact, been created and forwarded to the Township Clerk’s Office for processing under his OPRA request.
Jackson Township Clerk Sandra Martin was also asked about this through email, and she also did not respond on Friday.
Haidi subsequently posted screenshots and statements describing those conversations.
He later said the Clerk’s Office informed him that his records request had been “inadvertently closed.”
According to Haidi, the township has since granted an extension to continue processing the request. As of publication, the requested records had not yet been released.
Shore News Network has not independently reviewed those records because they have not been produced.
Resident questions timing of inspection
Haidi says the timing of the inspection is what concerns him most.
He argues that he publicly criticized township officials using government financial records, had his comments cut short, watched public comment be closed, learned township officials were seeking increased police presence at meetings, and then found himself the subject of a code enforcement inquiry little more than a week later.
“The timing of this enforcement action raises grave concerns about potential retaliation for constitutionally protected public speech,” Haidi wrote.
He also encouraged other residents and current or former township employees who believe they have experienced similar treatment to come forward.
“If any other residents of Jackson—particularly current or former Township employees—believe local government has been improperly or unethically weaponized against them, I encourage you to share your story because there is power in numbers and honesty,” he wrote.
First Amendment concerns
The allegations come against the backdrop of longstanding legal protections surrounding public participation at government meetings.
While municipalities may impose reasonable time limits and rules governing public comment, courts have generally held that government officials may not retaliate against individuals because they exercised their First Amendment rights by criticizing elected officials or government policies.
Whether retaliation occurred in any specific case depends on evidence showing that government action was motivated by protected speech rather than legitimate governmental purposes.
At this time, Haidi has publicly questioned whether the code enforcement visit was connected to his criticism of township spending.
Township officials decline to comment
Shore News Network contacted Mayor Jennifer Kuhn, Council President Mordechai Burnstein, Township Clerk Sandra Martin, and Business Administrator Charles Terefenko, seeking comment regarding Haidi’s allegations, including questions about the code enforcement visit, the handling of his OPRA request, and whether township officials directed any investigation related to his residence.
None of the township’s public officials responded before publication, despite receiving a 5pm print-deadline reminder on Friday.
The township has also not publicly explained why Haidi’s OPRA request initially returned “no responsive records” despite his claim that code enforcement personnel indicated documentation existed.
Questions remain. Who ordered the “Code Enforcement Red” at Haidi’s house, and was it because township officials “Can’t handle the truth”?
Should township officials provide additional information, this story will be updated. At this time, Haidi did not say whether he would escalate the matter of political retaliation by public officials to the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity.
The incident represents the latest chapter in a series of increasingly heated exchanges between Jackson Township residents and municipal officials.
Public meetings have become increasingly contentious as residents have questioned spending priorities, development decisions, Open Space acquisitions, personnel costs, and other municipal policies.
The township’s decision to increase police presence at future meetings has further intensified debate over how public participation should be managed.
Whether Haidi’s code enforcement inspection was a routine investigation or something more remains unclear. It does not appear to be routine from the evidence so far based on the silence of the public officials on the matter
For now, he continues to seek records he believes will explain why township officials sent an inspector to his family’s home shortly after he publicly challenged their spending decisions.
