“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT WE’RE DOING”
A 1-1 Vote Left Jason Carty As Director Despite An Investigation Recommending His Termination.
The Fire District meeting of Wednesday March 4, 2026, contained an executive session to discuss the misconduct investigation of Jason Carty. After the executive session, Chairman Thiessen came back to the public meeting to announce that the investigation recommended firing Carty.
“Everyone knows there was an ongoing investigation, and we are introducing this resolution on recommendation of our special legal counsel Parker McKay.” Jules Thiessen
Thiessen went on to read the full text of resolution 2026-16 as follows:
“RESOLUTION TERMINATING FIRE DIRECTOR JASON CARTY
Whereas Jason Carty was appointed by the Mount Holly Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners [Herein after ‘The Board’] as a Fire Director for the Mount Holly Fire District by virtue of resolution 2025-048-1 on September 19, 2025, and
Whereas The Board authorized an intense investigation into allegations of misconduct by Jason Carty, and
Whereas Jason Carty was afforded a full and fair opportunity to respond to the allegations and the Board did consider his responses before any decision regarding his employment status was made,
AND NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED
The Board of Fire Commissioners of Fire District #1 of the Township of Mount Holly, County of Burlington New Jersey resolves as follows:
Jason Carty’s employment as a Fire Director is terminated effective March 4, 2026.
The Board will comply with any applicable severance provisions contained in Jason Carty’s employment agreement.
The Board shall promptly provide Jason Carty with notice of the Board’s decision regarding termination, and a record of the Board’s decision shall be maintained in Jason Carty’s permanent personnel file.
Be it further resolved that this resolution shall be effective immediately according to law
And be it further resolved that the original signed, conformed and compared copy of this resolution be accessible and maintained as an official Board record pursuant to and in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 and the Destruction of public records law 1953 N.J.S.A. 47:3-8.1 as set forth by the State of New Jersey, Municipal Agency Retention of Records Schedule promulgated by the Division of Archives and Records Management.”
THE VOTE
Thiessen called for a motion on the resolution, which was supplied by Commissioners Jeena Sheppard and Rosemarie Logue.
The vote was highly unusual. Three of the commissioners did not casts votes, leaving the matter to be decided by the remaining 2 commissioners as follows:
· Commissioner Gaskill: Abstain.
· Commissioner Sheppard: Recused.
· Commissioner Thiessen: Recused.
· Commissioner Logue: Yes.
· Commissioner Saucier: No.
The 1-1 tie vote meant that the Resolution to fire Jason Carty did not pass. Commissioner Thiessen immediately moved to adjourn the meeting but commissioner Logue did not want to end the meeting without registering her objection to what just happened:
“I don’t understand what we’re doing y’all. We came down here with a resolution that was recommended by counsel, for which we paid over ten thousand dollars, and we are doing so with most of this body unable to discuss it because they are conflicted out. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.” Commissioner Rosemarie Logue
Lingering Questions
Commissioner Logue was right to be puzzled by the vote. Parker McKay was paid over $10,000 to conduct an extensive investigation of Mr. Carty who still remains on administrative leave. The investigation upheld misconduct allegations serious enough to recommend that Carty be fired. Yet the vote of the Board of Commissioners did not heed the expensive legal advice. Why? And what types of legal peril is the Fire District exposed to by ignoring their lawyers?
Just prior to the vote, Chairman Thiessen asked if there was any discussion on the matter and not a single commissioner made comment, thereby depriving residents of clues regarding the rationale of the commissioners on their votes.
RECUSAL: The recusals by Sheppard and Thiessen indicate that each believed they should not vote because of an actual or “potential” conflict of interest and/or a lack of impartiality. Potential conflicts are about people’s perception of “an appearance of conflict”.
ABSTENTION: By abstaining, Commissioner Gaskill indicated that she neither agreed nor disagreed with the resolution.
Commissioner Saucier’s “no” vote killed the resolution, allowing Mr. Carty to hang on to his job despite the attorneys saying he should be terminated. Perhaps Ms. Saucier believes she does not have a conflict of interest. It should be noted that in September of 2025, Ms. Saucier was appointed as sole negotiator for Jason Carty’s new employment agreement [i.e., new contract]. That new contract provided annual salary increases [compared to the previous contract] of 9%, 13% and 17% over the coming three years. See
That’s why we asked Commissioner Saucier to explain her vote against the recommendations of the attorneys to fire Jason Carty. To date, Saucier has not responded.
Likewise, the Mount Holly Reporter has asked Chair Thiessen whether the failure to pass the recommendation to fire Director Carty means that he will be taken off administrative leave and placed back on active duty as Director.
Mr. Thiessen said that “At this point in time, it’s still a personnel matter and is not appropriate to discuss.”