Citizen accuses city service director of misuse of funds tied to scoreboard; council members say multiple investigations found no wrongdoing

A Newark resident used the council's public-comment period to accuse the city's service director of improperly obtaining public funds related to a scoreboard project and to say the city faces a civil lawsuit; council members responded that multiple investigations found no illegal activity.

Dave Rowley, identifying his address as 648 Woods Edge Lane, told the council he had sent numerous emails about Service Director Dave Rhodes and said those messages received no reply. "Rhodes used his position to falsely obtain public funds," Rowley said. He alleged that the scoreboard project approved by council produced far less revenue than projected and that the city is now exposed to civil litigation. Rowley said a county prosecutor told a Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigator that "it does not appear based on my 20 years of legal experience that a crime has been committed in this case," and he criticized council members for not taking further action.

A second public commenter, who identified herself only as Kyla and said she lives at 130 Delmar Avenue, spoke about homelessness and community support; her remarks called for compassionate treatment of people experiencing homelessness and did not reference the scoreboard matter.

Council members responded during the meeting. Council member Barker thanked colleagues for support on other business and separately noted the scoreboard did not produce the revenue anticipated; other council speakers said the city's service director has been the subject of repeated inquiries and that "investigation after investigation has shown that there was no illegal activity, nothing that was founded." One council speaker said unforeseen events including the COVID-19 pandemic affected the scoreboard's revenue projections.

What happened and what the transcript shows

- Rowley alleged that the scoreboard project — which he described as an effort to sell advertising and fund Edwards Park — cost far more than initial estimates and produced substantially less revenue. He gave dollar figures during his remarks (Rowley's statements on cost and revenue are reported here as his allegations).

- Council comments on the record said multiple investigations completed to date found no illegal activity; council members cited prior investigations as the reason no further formal probe was necessary.

What is not in the record

- The transcript includes Rowley's allegations and council members' statements that prior investigations found no illegal activity, but it does not contain the formal findings or reports from those investigations, the text of any complaint, or the current status/details of the referenced civil lawsuit. The transcript does not state whether the city has set aside settlement funds or whether any litigation has been filed; those items were not specified in the meeting record.

Next steps noted in the meeting

Council members scheduled committee meetings and the council's next full meeting for April 7; no formal motions or votes on the Rhodes matter were recorded during this session.