Belmar Cop Reimbursed for Wedding Ring Lost During Hurricane Sandy

A Belmar police officer lost a $1,600 wedding ring during the Hurricane Sandy emergency response and was later reimbursed by the borough, in an incident Belmar officials said was an oversight and a mistake, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press.

The Belmar officer, Officer Michael Campbell, has reimbursed the borough, according to the report. Mayor Matt Doherty called the incident a mistake and Borough Administrator Colleen Connolly said the reimbursement was mistakenly made during the post-Sandy administrative tasks.

Councilman Jim Bean said in the APP report that the mistake is unacceptable, and pointed out the procedures to approve invoices often require multiple sets of eyes to make it to the council bill list. Doherty said the payment was already reimbursed and called it a non-issue.

While Bean missed the payment on the bill list of the November Belmar Council meeting which was voted on unanimously, the councilman has often called for more time to review the bill list before the council meeting begins.

At the last several council meetings, Bean has asked for the bill list to be provided earlier. The last bill list was provided less than an hour before the council meeting, he said and he's hoping more time to review what payments are being submitted to the council for vote, Bean said.