JACKSON – The status of Rova Farms was once again discussed during a recent Township Council meeting where it was noted that Morgan Engineering, owned by Ocean County Commissioner Director Frank Sadeghi, was no longer working for the township on that project.
During the portion of the meeting where residents can bring up any topic, resident Adam Haidi asked about the work Morgan Engineering did. He also wanted to know about the council replacing Morgan with T&M Associates.
Haidi who is a member of the township’s environmental commission shared information he gathered from past OPRA (Open Public Records Act) requests. He also founded the Jackson Conservation Coalition which has been closely monitoring issues involving the community’s Pinelands, wetlands and land purchases for preserved land and recreational areas like Rova Farms.
Rova Farms was purchased by the township several years ago for the purpose of providing a recreation area for the community. That project has had its share of roadblocks despite the efforts of a committee made up of citizens and elected officials guiding its progress. One of those roadblocks involved delays in permits that are required for the engineering work.
Haidi asked Council President Mordechai Burnstein “Are you saying Frank Sadghi, the Ocean County Commissioner, dropped the ball on our permit issues?”
“Yes,” Burnstein answered.
“So, after receiving $491,000, he dropped the ball,” Haidi asked in a follow-up question. “I’ve audited the open space account from before Mayor (Jennifer) Kuhn was even present right up to this travesty that we are at right now. I totaled over $896,000 of taxpayer money spent on Rova Farms. Almost a million dollars spent but what is most concerning is that not a single deliverable has been attained.”
Providing a timeline, Haidi said, “the project started in 2023 and we spent $356,000, the next year $83,000. 2025 – when Mayor Kuhn was appointed – $340, and just this year we spent another $115,000. That is $896,000 spent on Rova Farms. Where are the deliverables?
Haidi provided the vendor concentration. The firm was paid $500,000 but “we don’t have a single permit. I reached out to DEP (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) in November 2025 and they couldn’t find a single application filed with them. It is a matter of public record if you go to Jacksonconservationcoalition.org you will find this public information available.”
The Coalition’s breakdown showed that the township paid $550,000 in park improvements, $40,000 in wetland delineations, $27,000 for seven feasibility studies and $20,000 in phase one studies.
The resident questioned the township about a $27,100 delineation charge that Morgan had billed Jackson for in 2025. “You guys sent me one map with squiggly lines on it. I’m just trying to figure out how we spent almost $900,000 and we have no deliverables.”
Haidi also noted in a letter to the township that Ocean County party boss George Gilmore’s wife is a partner at Morgan Municipal. “The weirdest thing about this all is – the announcement of Morgan Engineering working on Rova Farms was on February 6, 2024 and 13 days later, Frank Sadeghi made a campaign donation to Council President Mordechai Burnstein’s Political Action Committee (PAC), “United Ocean County.”
Haidi said, “the ethical next step would be to publicize the legitimacy of the Coalition’s audit, demand a formal statement from Sadeghi both as the Ocean County Commissioner and privately as the owner of Morgan Engineering – and ultimately seek legal action to recoup the taxpayer money that was charged for goods and services that were never actually received.”
Burnstein responded to the letter stating, “the number I received was closer to $200,000 and I would like to ensure that we all have accurate info. That being said, I don’t think it’s correct to say nothing was done. Rova has major environmentally sensitive concerns and isn’t automatically shovel ready.”
He added, “what was done was not wasted and this included site plan design, survey work, stormwater management reports, freshwater studies, playground designs, a topographic survey, and an initial DEP meeting. If the township paid for a service and did not receive it, we will absolutely demand the funds back.”
“You keep saying things are coming soon. You just added $3,000 to the bills list for permits. This is going to be the first permit for Rova Farms?” Haidi asked while before the dais.
“I don’t know what Morgan submitted but we’ve submitted three permits right now in the past three weeks,” Burnstein responded.
“You finally submitted something after spending $900,000 over three and a half years,” Haidi added noting that his group’s website has an Excel sheet that shows the breakdown of expenses regarding what has been spent on the Rova Farms Park project.
Sadeghi swore in Kuhn in October of 2025 where he noted at the time that he knew her and worked with her father and spoke about how Ocean County would be expanding in population and that Jackson Township would be the center point of that expansion.
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