TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack has not been charged for any water usage at a commercial property he owns on West State Street for nearly five years, Trenton Water Works records show.

The three-story brick building at 302 West State Street, which was used as Mack’s campaign headquarters during his 2010 run for mayor, includes an office on the first level and two apartments upstairs. Mack has most recently claimed it as his residence in a personal bankruptcy filing, though there are scant signs of current occupancy.

The building recorded a total of 0 cubic feet of water usage between a reading on Dec. 9, 2008 and the most recent quarterly reading on Sept. 9 of this year. One cubic foot of water was used during that most recent quarter, the records show.

Mack was still charged a base service fee quarterly, but has infrequently paid his bill, records show. His account was more than $500 in arrears at the most recent pay period in September, and he had received 14 shutoff notices from the water utility since taking office as mayor in July 2010.

Since at least this summer, it appears that Mack’s water service from the street can be turned on and off at will. The curb box which regulates flow from the water main under the street to the building is missing its cap. Without the cap, service can be turned off and on with a special tool, according to advertisements for the parts.

Despite the repeated shutoff notices, the payment records do not indicate whether the service was actually terminated, nor do they show if Mack paid the required fee to get the building’s water restored. An $84 “work order charge” was posted to the account in December 2009.

Trenton mayor Tony Mack signals to a passer-by before speaking at a press conference on the morning of Monday, September 23, 2013 before demolition begins on the Glen Cairn Arms complex at the corner of West State Street and Calhoun Street. Michael Mancuso/The Times To purchase prints of this photo, visit TimesofTrenton.zenfolio.com

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into corruption at the Trenton Water Works shortly after Mack took office in 2010, eventually arresting the mayor’s half-brother Stanley “Muscles” Davis, who is now serving a six-year prison sentence.

Mack’s State Street property did not come up during that investigation, which is now closed, Mercer County First Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said yesterday. Onofri would not comment on the usage records and curb box anomalies.

“During the original investigation, there were no allegations of the mayor not paying for water,” Onofri said.

A request for comment left on Mack’s voicemail yesterday was not returned. Mack is facing federal corruption charges following an FBI sting. His trial is set to begin in January, and he has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

Mack bought the building at the corner of West State Street and Calhoun Street about a block from the Statehouse from the late Shelley Zeiger in May 2003. Then a county freeholder and Trenton’s recycling coordinator, Mack formed the limited liability corporation Foremost Development and Construction Co. for the purchase. The company’s incorporation records list Mack as the only officer, and the water account is still under the name of Foremost.

The usage records obtained by The Times on Tuesday are for water only and did not include sewer.

The last significant water usage, registered by a meter reader on Dec. 9, 2008, showed 23 cubic feet over a three-month period. The quarter before that, read on Sept. 9, 2008, showed 34. The next nine quarters — through the 2010 election that saw multiple campaign workers in the office, a kickoff party for Mack’s campaign, and tenants in the rental apartments — all show no usage.

An estimated reading at Mack’s property, taken on June 10, 2011, showed 5 cubic feet of usage but was refunded the next quarter, the records show. The only other estimates, done last December and this March, came in as zero usage.

All of these readings were actual measurements supposed to be performed by Water Works employees who can read the meter from outside. At least four different water meter readers are listed on the usage records. The water utility is operated by the Trenton Public Works department, for which Mack has ultimate oversight as the city’s mayor. Trenton Water serves customers in Lawrence, Ewing, Hamilton and Hopewell in addition to the city.

When the mayor declared personal bankruptcy earlier this year, he listed 302 West State Street as his residence. But the building appears empty at night, and a second-floor rear window could be seen with a broken pane earlier this week. Mack’s longtime residence has been a six bedroom house on Berkeley Avenue.

The State Street building is across the street from the future site of Thomas Edison State College’s nursing school, a redevelopment project Mack supported and that boosters say will increase the value of all properties in the area.

For water service in the three-story building, Mack has been charged a flat $124.82 per quarter since early 2010, the bills show, though that amount would not include actual water used. In the last two years, two payments have been made on the water account for Mack’s building — April 2, 2012, an online payment for $124.82, and Dec. 21, 2012, cash payment for $374.46.

Mack’s half-brother, Stanley Davis, was a Water Works foreman who admitted performing an illegal water hookup at a house in Ewing in June 2010. Davis also pleaded guilty to taking a bribe from an undercover prosecutor’s office detective in November 2010 to install water service while being paid for emergency overtime. He is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.

Mack approved changes at the Water Works three months into his term that allowed Davis and the foremen on call to authorize their own overtime. Though the same grand jury that indicted Davis and two other Water Works employees debated whether to charge Mack in January 2011, they opted not to indict him after being advised against the move by an assistant prosecutor.

Charles Hall III was hired by Mack’s administration as a meter reader a month after Mack took office at a salary of almost $48,000 a year. Hall, who was dubbed “the Utility Man,” later played a major role in multi-million dollar park renovations and was the mayor’s pick to head the city’s recycling division when Trenton planned to bring its collection in-house during 2012.

Hall is expected to be a key witness for the government at Mack’s upcoming federal trial on corruption charges, which is set to begin Jan. 6. Mack was arrested alongside his brother Ralphiel and Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni in September 2012. The three men were indicted last December on extortion, bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud.

Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.

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