By PETE WALTON
The Bradley Beach Borough Council has again initiated disciplinary action against Chief of Police Leonard Guida.
By a 3-0 vote after a lengthy meeting and closed session, the council approved a resolution to start the proceedings against Guida, who has applied for retirement as chief.
A state Superior Court judge ruled that the council did not comply with state law when it held a rare Sunday special meeting on March 3 and approved the disciplinary action for the first time.
Guida sued the council, saying it acted improperly. Judge Owen McCarthy invalidated the March vote, saying the council failed to give proper notice.
In a handwritten note at the bottom of his order, the judge wrote that “the court makes no findings as to [the] merits of [the] charges.”
The ruling left open the possibility that the council could “cure” its action by taking another vote with proper notice, though it was the council’s position that it had given proper notice under the circumstances.
The council decided to take action after the full governing body received a report from Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago following a lengthy investigation into allegations against Guida.
The prosecutor sustained more than two dozen findings against Guida.
“Chief Guida has been an active hindrance to the very law enforcement agency he was entrusted to lead,” Santiago said when the report was made public. “The picture the report paints is not pretty, but that is precisely why we felt that it was so vitally important to publicly release it. Transparency is rendered meaningless if ugliness is kept opaque.”
“The mission of the Bradley Beach Police Department, to provide effective services to the public, and to do so with the highest level of professionalism to ensure the public’s trust and confidence, is not being accomplished with Chief Guida at the helm of this agency,” the prosecutor said in a statement.
Guida’s attorney, Charles Uliano, argued in court that Council President Jane DeNoble should have recused herself since she was a possible witness to one of the incidents investigated by the prosecutor.
DeNoble recused herself when the second vote was taken.
