PASSAIC COUTY — Gov. Chris Christie has given the commissioners of the state's largest sewerage authority seven days to explain why they appear to be using their agency as a "piggy bank" for friends and family, or he will likely demand all seven resign.

Christie said his chief counsel, Jeff Chiesa, will be sending out letters later today on the governor’s behalf to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, requesting they list all hires they had been involved with; account for all family members they have on the payroll; provide records of all raises that were authorized, and a justification for each.

"My initial inclination would have been to demand resignations, but fairness would dictate allowing them seven days to explain themselves," said the governor bluntly.

The action came a day after a report in The Sunday Star-Ledger, which found widespread financial abuse and favoritism within the PVSC, including well-paying jobs for brothers, wives, children and in-laws; sweetheart deals for insiders; lucrative, no-bid consulting contracts, and lavish travel expenditures.

In an unusual public rebuke for a state agency, Christie called the PSVC "a remnant of New Jersey that should be part of our embarrassing past." At the same time, he urged the Legislature to give him veto power over the troubled authority, which operates one of the largest sewage treatment plants in the country.

"They appear to be using this place as a familial piggy bank to take care of their friends, relatives and political associates," declared the governor. "If this doesn’t convince the Legislature that, at a minimum, I need veto authority over the commission, I don’t know what will."

Unlike most other public authorities in New Jersey, the PVSC — which has a $161 million budget — faces no state review of its spending. The governor also cannot act to reverse any of its actions.

The Star-Ledger examination found the agency had handed out costly contracts to benefit the communities of individual commissioners. Other documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act found the commissioners kept a scorecard to keep track of the jobs they each had to give out, which were known as the "commissioners' rounds."

Numbered like NFL draft round choices, the internal records showed one commissioner picked his daughter-in-law when his turn came. Another picked his wife. Others routinely hired those with ties to elected officials.

Commissioner Carl Czaplicki, who also serves as director of the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, sponsored his wife’s hiring. He selected Vanessa Czaplicki as a 21st round pick in 2003 as a $47,664-a-year account clerk. She now makes $70,676. His brother, John, makes nearly $90,000.

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• Records reveal Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission a gold mine for insiders

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Kenneth Pengitore, the Republican mayor of Haledon, landed jobs for his son, daughter and daughter-in-law after he became a PVSC commissioner. Then, two years ago, his fellow commissioners hired him as their chief financial officer. Pengitore now earns $163,869 a year.

Commissioner Frank Calandriello, who also serves as the mayor of Garfield, reported on his financial disclosure forms that two cousins and his cousin’s wife all work for the commission, as does as his brother-in-law.

None returned calls for comment.

At least 85 of Passaic Valley’s 567 employees were found to be making more than $100,000, while three are paid more than $200,000, according to the newspaper’s findings. At the top of the list was Anthony Ardis, another former commissioner and one-time congressional aide, who is getting paid $220,443 and was given a car, a high-end Ford Expedition SUV that sells for more than $34,000.

Christie made it clear that he thinks the commissioners will have a hard time convincing him they have run the agency properly.

"I think it would be very hard to justify hiring your wife and brother, or hiring commissioners to high-paid positions — whether it’s Mr. Ardis or Mr. Pengitore," he said. "I can hardly see the justification for the salaries and cars for folks that are helping us handle sewage."

Monday was a state holiday and PVSC Chairman Anthony Luna, who also serves as the municipal manager of Lodi, could not be reached for comment.

The commission, created by the Legislature in 1902, is responsible for about a quarter of all the wastewater generated in New Jersey — about 330 million gallons per day — handling the sewage from 48 member municipalities in Passaic, Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties, including Newark and Jersey City.

The commission is run by a nine-member board, with two representatives from each county it serves and one at-large member, all appointed by the governor. However, senatorial courtesy, the unwritten yet closely followed rule that giving state senators veto power over nominees from their legislative districts, gives the Legislature a measure of control. Four of the current commissioners are holdover appointees whose terms have expired — one back in 2008 — but have not been replaced because of senatorial courtesy, which is also holding up two of Christie’s nominees.

Two other seats are currently unfilled. One has been vacant for five years.

Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who has tried for years to pass reform measures to put the PVSC under some state oversight, has complained that people from both parties get jobs there, giving the agency "some semblance of bipartisan protection."

Christie said she was right. "No one wants to change it because its a great gig for everyone who’s there," he remarked.

Administration officials say they have taken a series of steps over the past year to curb the excesses of Passaic Valley. The Governor’s Authorities Unit insisted on cuts in contracts to lobbyists, restriction of out-of-state travel and cutting holidays back to the same number other state employees receive.

They also pressured the agency’s executive director, Bryan Christiansen, to leave last year. He was replaced at the governor’s request by former Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest.

However, Christie said Forrest simply doesn’t have the power to do the things that need to be done.