Former Mayor Leonard Kaiser resigned from his position as president of the North Arlington Educational/Athletic Foundation at a 7:30 a.m. meeting on Nov. 12, the day before federal agents raided his home, according to new foundation president Brian Fitzhenry. During the early morning reorganization meeting, former school board trustee Fitzhenry, who was previously the foundation’s vice president, took over Kaiser’s post.
Kaiser did not respond to questions regarding his reasons for stepping down. "Mr. Kaiser decided he had other things to do in his life and he decided to step down," said Fitzhenry.
When asked whether Leonard Kaiser’s decision had to do with the federal investigation that targeted him, Fitzhenry said he doubted it.
Earlier this year, area towns received subpoenas requesting contracts with Government Grants Consulting, a firm owned by Kaiser, Bergen County Democratic Organization chairman Joseph Ferriero and attorney Dennis Oury. Ferriero and Oury, who owned the firm with Kaiser, were served with an indictment and charged with eight counts of fraud, according to the subpoena. Kaiser was not named in the indictment, but was clearly referred to as "individual 1."
Federal agents arrived at Leonard Kaiser’s home on Nov. 13, just a week after he resigned from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, where he served as a board member for six years, and a day after he resigned as president of the educational/athletic foundation. Kaiser remains chairman for the Bergen County Utilities Authority.
Leonard Kaiser’s wife, Barbara, has a paid managerial position with the foundation, which handles the district’s before and after-school care programs, according to Fitzhenry. Fitzhenry did not know Barbara Kaiser’s salary, but said the position was part-time and her duties included assisting with running the operation. "I would say she puts full-time hours in and it’s a part-time position," said Fitzhenry.
The North Arlington Educational Athletic Foundation took over the school care program in 2002 when then-mayor Russ Pitman hired a consultant to find ways to cut costs for the borough. The consultant, Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, recommended eliminating the program, according to Fitzhenry.
In order to keep the program going, the education foundation took it over. "It was really important that the kids and the parents didn’t get affected by this," said Fitzhenry, who was a board of education member at the time.
Today, 131 children are enrolled in the after care program, 85 in before school care and 19 are enrolled in pre-Kindergarten. Another 25 are on a waiting list, according to district secretary Carol Ostanski. The program uses school facilities free of charge and spends its budget on supplies as well as salaries, according to the foundation’s 2007 New Jersey Charities report.
The foundation employs 17 people, according to Fitzhenry. Wages and salaries cost the foundation $271,446 in 2007. Management wages and salaries cost $69,115, according to the report. Fitzhenry said Barbara Kaiser was not the only manager of the foundation.
