A New Jersey mayor launched a personal attack on a woman during a heated council meeting, ridiculing her employment status and questioning whether she still lived in her parents’ basement.
Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick clashed with longtime resident Dana Tormollan after she challenged him over political material sent to residents alongside their tax bills during the October 19 meeting.
‘Did you get a job yet, Dana? Are you still living in the basement at home?’ Rodrick asked as the dispute escalated during the public-comment period.
Tormollan responded that she worked and paid her own bills, but Rodrick continued to taunt her and told her to ‘get a job.’
The confrontation began after Tormollan went before the council to complain about a letter from Rodrick that she said contained misleading claims.
‘We had gotten our tax bills and his letter was in there full of things that were not true,’ Tormollan told NJ.com.
‘I was going to go in and just say, ‘Stop wasting residents’ money by sending out your political nonsense.’
Tormollan said she was already frustrated by Rodrick’s exchanges with other residents before she stepped up to the microphone.
Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick clashed with longtime resident Dana Tormollan after she challenged him over political material included with residents’ tax bills during the October 19 meeting.
‘I told you to stop sending me this crap,’ she said to the mayor.
Instead of responding to her complaint, Rodrick asked whether she had found a job and suggested that she was still living in a basement at home.
Tormollan insisted that she was employed and financially independent, but Rodrick repeated his instruction that she get a job.
She later accused the mayor of routinely belittling residents, especially older women who spoke during council meetings.
‘He was mocking the older women that were getting up there,’ she told NJ.com.
‘If he was speaking to my mother that way, I would not sit here…It’s really gross and extremely unprofessional.’
The exchange was the latest in a series of clashes involving Rodrick. His conduct led the township council to approve a 4-3 vote of no confidence on October 28.
The resolution accused the mayor of ‘reprehensible behavior, disruption of official proceedings and decorum violations.’
Rather than address Tormollan’s complaint, Rodrick questioned whether she had found a job and implied that she still lived in a basement at home.
The October 28 meeting sparked another controversy after Rodrick and Councilman Craig Coleman were accused of coordinating a planned verbal attack on Council Vice President Thomas Nivison while Rodrick said the meeting’s livestream was experiencing technical difficulties.
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As officials and residents waited for the meeting to begin, Rodrick told Council President David Ciccozzi that there were problems with the livestream.
The feed nevertheless showed Coleman reading a resolution criticizing Nivison over allegations that he had verbally abused another council member.
The seven-minute presentation continued while people in the meeting room apparently believed that technical issues had delayed the proceedings.
Near the end of the presentation, Rodrick could be heard telling Ciccozzi that the delay would last ‘two more minutes.’
Nivison later discovered that Coleman’s accusations had been broadcast on the livestream and accused Rodrick’s allies of deliberately arranging the episode.
‘So there’s nothing wrong with the feed. It’s just a ploy by the scammers over here,’ Nivison said.
‘If you won’t allow folks to speak, then we’ll do it on our own,’ Rodrick replied.
Rodrick has repeatedly clashed with residents and council members during his time in office, and previous meetings have devolved into shouting matches.
‘So it was a lie right off the bat by the mayor,’ Nivison said.
The no-confidence vote came as frustration grew over Rodrick’s treatment of residents and his increasingly antagonistic relationship with fellow elected officials.
The dispute with Tormollan followed another bitter disagreement over affordable housing that divided the township’s elected leaders.
Council members voted 4-2 against an ordinance that would have designated 42 units as affordable housing, including 28 newly built apartments and 14 units converted from market-rate housing.
Opponents questioned the plan to use municipal land purchased for approximately $10.3 million without first securing an appraisal.
The disagreement had already triggered personal attacks between Rodrick and Ciccozzi during a July meeting.
‘You have been selling out our town for years,’ Rodrick told the council president.
‘I’m putting it on the record that this guy is doing everything behind our backs and wants us to approve things, and I’m tired of it,’ Ciccozzi responded.
Rodrick has repeatedly clashed with residents and council members during his time in office, with previous meetings descending into heated shouting matches.
Tormollan was also one of three residents who led an unsuccessful petition drive seeking to recall Rodrick.
The campaign failed to gather the more than 18,000 signatures needed to proceed.
