SUMMARY: In her haste to re-hire Jason Carty, Fire Commissioner Nicole Saucier convened a 10 AM meeting on September 19, 2025 which a judge has now found to have violated multiple provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act. Mount Holly lawyer Mike Rothmel sued the Fire District seeking to nullify that meeting and all actions which flowed from it. Superior Court judge Cook agreed with Rothmel and ruled that the meeting and the re-hiring of Fire Director Jason R. Carty is void.
For the second time in less than a year, a Superior Court judge in Burlington County has ruled that the hiring of Jason R. Carty as Fire Director was illegal. Consequently his employment has again been ruled “void” from its start. As a result, the paid leave which Mr. Carty has collected since November of 2025 has finally reached its end.
Attorney Mike Rothmel gave the following statement
“In my opinion, Nicole Saucier purposely delayed the provision of an agenda so that it coincided with Commissioner Rosemarie Logue’s vacation because Saucier did not want Logue attending the meeting. This is supported at page 3 of Judge Cook’s statement of reason where he notes that adequate notice requires that an agenda, to the extent known, be included in the meeting notice at least 48 hours before the meeting. Cook found that agenda was known on September 15th but not provided until September 18th, only 16.5 hours before the meeting.”
Also reached for comment, Commissioner candidate Gary Brotz said that “Today’s court ruling, which has removed Jason Carty as Director for a second time, follows a previous ruling that nullified June Gaskill’s unethical vote to hire Carty in 2025. This kind of malfeasance is exactly why Rosemarie Logue and I have entered the race for Fire Commissioner.”
RECENT FIRE DEPARTMENT HISTORY
Mr. Carty acquired the Director of Fire Services job as the Fire District struggled to maintain its 275 year status as a volunteer organization. In March of 2025 when Carty was first hired, the number of volunteers was at a low point with no relief in sight.
The Reporter investigated reasons for the decline in firefighter census. One fire fighter said his decision to severely cut back participation was due to the likelihood of getting publicly criticized. “I’ll do work, but nothing extra. Because, WHY? If I am not in favor, I will just get trashed on Facebook”.
Mr. Carty published Fire District statistics on his Facebook page called “Mount Holly News”, regarding the District’s inability to answer even 15% of fire calls. Those stats suggested that a personnel crisis was at hand and that change was needed.
As Director, Carty began to nudge the District away from its all volunteer roots and towards a paid “duty crew”. His paid shift model did not require volunteer hours and relied heavily on professional firefighter colleagues from distant communities like Ewing, where Carty served as a professional fire fighter since 2018.
The Reporter acquired text threads which showed an out-of-town duty crew member stating that he would only work paid shifts. Supporters of the old duty crew model cited improved response statistics, but those same people avoided an obvious tilt toward a full-time paid professional fire department. Estimates for a paid fire department depend on how it is staffed, but could cost upwards of $2,500,000 which works out to about $700 annually to an average Mount Holly household.
A full time professional fire department seems to be less likely now that Carty’s tenure is receding into the past. The Fire District has been shoring up its status as a volunteer fire department once again. Over the last months, Fire Chief Tom Mason has instituted a new duty crew program with requires that volunteer hours be worked. This has resulted in the recruitment of 15 new members.
I am profoundly grateful to Mr. Rothmel for his dedication and service to Mount Holly.