Atlantic City MUA Exec. Dir. To Receive Legal Contract From City?

We have obtained a copy of a proposed resolution that upon approval would award a $ 150,000 contract to the Michael Armstrong Law Firm for 2023.

Armstrong is the Executive Director of the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority (ACMUA).

In this position, Armstrong is responsible for all drinking water treatment and distribution to the City of Atlantic City.

Armstrong was appointed to this position, effective February 8, 2022. He succeeded former Atlantic City Councilman Bruce Ward, who then later (Ward) became the solicitor for the ACMUA.

If Armstrong can receive 5 votes from the Atlantic City Council and obtain state approval, his law firm will receive a year 2023 legal services contract in the amount of $ 150,000.

Obtaining the five Atlantic City Council votes required to prevail will be no slam dunk for Armstrong, as Councilman Aaron “Sporty” Randolph will likely have to abstain from voting because he works under Armstrong at the ACMUA.

At this time, our informal straw poll shows the Armstrong measure will fail by a vote of 4-4.

However, never forget, this is Atlantic City, where “horse trading” is a full contact sport.

Whether it’s the city, board of education, or, various authorities, Atlantic City has more conflicts of interest than you can possibly count.

Armstrong was supportive of the political coup that removed John Devlin from the Atlantic City MUA board.

Devlin was also the board’s chairman and had been asking probing questions about the various practices and other issues at the ACMUA at the time of his removal.

Devlin has filed a $ 10 million lawsuit against the City of Atlantic City, ACMUA, Mayor Marty Small, Armstrong, and many others.

Immediate ACMUA solicitor Fred Bor has also filed a Tort Claim notice against the City and ACMUA, along with numerous individuals.

Here is a copy of the proposed City of Atlantic resolution # 783  (sponsored by Councilman Kaleem Shabazz), that would approve the Armstrong legal services contract.

It begins:

A RESOLUTION TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO THE LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL ARMSTRONG & ASSOCIATES FOR MUNICIPAL DEFENSE MATTERS IN THE AMOUNT OF ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($150,000.00)

We have spoken to several City of Atlantic City employees, who literally laughed at the notion that the unsophisticated Marty Small administration would even understand what “Municipal Defense Matters” means.

We reached out to Devlin to see if he thinks that there is a direct connection to his ouster and the potential awarding of this legal services contract.

Devlin did not hold back.

"It's a classic case of quid pro quo if I ever saw one, “ said Devlin.

”This is a prime example of Armstrong being rewarded by Small for his role in the removal of me from the ACMUA. Armstrong's not fit to be the executive director, let alone a lawyer,” said Devlin.

Devlin continued, "It's very disturbing to see these kind of actions continue under Small’s watch,” said Devlin.

“To award another legal contract to an Executive Director for that kind of money should be criminal, especially to an incompetent, absentee Director like Armstrong. I mean this guy literally doesn't answer the phone when there's a biblical water main leak, nobody is manning the helm of this ship" said Devlin.

We also reached out to Atlantic City Council President George Tibbitt for comment. He declined, because he did not wish to address the matter at this time.

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