Toms River to Settle Lawsuit Brought by Former Business Administrator

Don Guardian (Credit: SNJ Today)

Toms River Township is settling a lawsuit brought by former Business Administrator Don Guardian, who claimed he was subject to homphobic slurs by former township officials before being fired after objecting to what he believed was the illegal hiring of an assistant administrator.

The township will settle the litigation with Guardian, the former Republican mayor of Atlantic City and current state Assemblyman in Atlantic County, for $690,000 according to Mayor Dan Rodrick. The Ocean County Joint Insurance Fund made an offer just before the case was due to go to trial, Rodrick said.

“I was relieved to learn that the JIF made an offer to Guardian,” Rodrick said. “The township would’ve gotten crushed at trial. It’s pretty clear that Mo Hill and Lou Amoruso discriminated against Guardian for being an openly gay man.”

---

Get Daily Toms River News Updates Your email address:* Please enter all required fields Correct invalid entries

Rodrick would go on to defeat Hill in the next mayoral race. Guardian claimed in the lawsuit that Hill and Amoruso, the former Public Works superintendent who eventually replaced Guardian as administrator, used slurs mocking his sexual orientation, including calling him a “pillow biter,” “pervert,” and “f___t.”

Hill disputed the allegations in an interview with the Asbury Park Press, saying he never mistreated Guardian and the two were accomplishing good things in town.

The lawsuit also included a shocking claim that Guardian suffered a stroke in an office at town hall in 2020, but officials were busy with a township council meeting and no one came to check on him, leaving him to suffer the entire episode without assistance. He was allegedly informed that he was being replaced by Amoruso just after notifying the township that he was cleared to return to work after recovering at home for several months.

Guardian also alleged that he was fired in retaliation for objecting to the hiring of Amoruso as an assistant administrator, which he claimed was not permitted under state statutes for a municipality of Toms River’s size.

Rodrick praised Guardian, who served in the position from 2017 to 2020, in comments to Shorebeat on Monday.

“Mr. Guardian took the position just a few months before I was first sworn in on town council and he was working put the township back on a fiscally sustainable path,” Rodrick said. “He was a good administrator and I want to apologize to him on behalf of Toms River Township. No one should be treated that way because of who or what they are. I’m sorry they treated him that way.”

Rodrick has long feuded with Hill and members of the former mayor’s inner circle. Amoruso was ousted from his role as administrator after Rodrick was sworn in as the township’s mayor.