PASSAIC, NJ – The City of Passaic, N.J., business administrator Greg Hill drives back and forth more than 150 miles every day to his home in Henryville, Pa., in a city-owned car, according to the Herald News. But Hill sent out a memorandum in 2003 to several city employees that prohibited taking city vehicles out of Passaic without an exemption from Mayor Samuel Rivera.

“Use of the city vehicle shall be within the city limits of the city of Passaic unless exempted by the administration for the city business,” the memo said, according to the Herald News. Hill also wrote that employees assigned city vehicles may use it for city business only.

Keith Furlong, a spokesman for Mayor Rivera, claimed that the mayor had exempted Hill from city regulations.

“The reasoning for that is, the business administrator in the city of Passaic -- and I would suspect other cities similar to Passaic -- is on-call 24 hours a day for the mayor,” Furlong said, as quoted in the Herald News. The spokesman said Rivera had given Hill verbal approval to take the car outside Passaic. He could not supply a document showing Hill’s exemption or the date it was given.

Former Mayor Marge Semler first raised questions about Hill’s use of a city vehicle in December 2005. She said Hill had twice denied her requests for public records concerning city vehicle use.

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