Neptune DPW Boss Fired For LGBTQ Facebook Comments Sues Township

NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP, NJ — The Neptune Township Public Works director who was fired last week after he made controversial remarks about LGBTQ+ people on a friend's Facebook post has now filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the township.

DPW director David Milmoe alleges in the suit he was fired not because of his Facebook comments, but because of a personal vendetta he says Neptune Mayor Tassie York started against him last year, when he refused to hire her nephew for a driver position in the DPW.

"There is a pattern of Tassie York using her position to confer benefits on people closest to her. And when Mr. Milmoe pushed back, she went after him and his job," said Milmoe's lawyer, Claudia Reis, of employment law firm Lenzo & Reis in Morristown. "This is not about a Facebook post. She runs the town like she's a mob boss using her power to get what she wants."

York did not respond when Patch contacted her this week about the allegations and the lawsuit against her.

Milmoe's lawsuit was filed Monday. Milmoe, a Toms River resident, is suing Neptune Township and York.

Milmoe said in his suit that in March 2023 he interviewed candidates for a driver position in the DPW, and one of the candidates was York's nephew. At the time, York was deputy mayor of Neptune.

Milmoe said the nephew, who was not named in his lawsuit, told him "being approved to work at a higher starting salary would not be a problem because he would simply talk to his aunt," and "he could contravene the regular hiring process and regular hiring timeline because he would simply call his aunt."

Milmoe said he offered the job to someone else. Shortly thereafter, Milmoe said York questioned him about why her nephew's hiring was not on the council agenda for approval, and she expressed displeasure that her nephew had not been offered the job.

Milmoe said he was told to re-interview the nephew. Milmoe said the nephew was "hostile and entitled" during that second interview, and again Milmoe did not offer him the job.

Then, on Sept. 29, 2023, a day of intense flooding in Neptune when Fletcher Lake overflowed, Milmoe said York called him multiple times and showed up in his office, demanding to know where he was. Milmoe said he was extremely busy dealing with the flooding, and told York he would get back to her later.

Milmoe filed multiple township employee complaints about York in the past year, saying she was harassing him. In his complaints, he said he feared that once she became mayor in 2024 she would seek to fire him. Neptune Twp. investigated but concluded that Milmoe "failed to recognize York's authority and responsibility as a member of (Neptune's) governing body."

In January of this year, York became mayor of Neptune Township.

Milmoe fired for his Facebook comments

Then on June 7, Milmoe said he was informed by Neptune Township's human resources department that York had screenshots of comments he made on Facebook, and she was asking the township to discipline him for the comments.

Milmoe said his exchange on Facebook was as follows:

On June 5, his friend posted on Facebook that he would be learning to play the piano.

In response, during his personal time and on a non-work-issued device, Milmoe said he wrote "So wait ... you're becoming a gay firefighter now? Next you'll be playing the flute at rest stops."

The friend replied: "This is the wrong month to say this statement ... I'm about to be a piano playing firefighter." (It was June, Pride Month.) To which Milmoe responded, "I'm just trying to see if we raising the flag in your honor, Stevie Wonder."

Milmoe was placed on paid leave in June. He was offered a suspension (instead of being fired) and demotion to deputy DPW director if he signed a release stating he would not sue Neptune Township for anything that had happened to him at this point. He refused.

Milmoe's lawyer argues that his social media comments were a private exchange between friends. She argues he does not serve as a spokesman for Neptune Township, and also said Neptune has not shown how his comments violate the town's social media policy.

"What they were really doing was trying to coerce him into giving up his legal claim against the town," said his lawyer. "They were trying to leverage that Facebook post to get him to take a demotion. When he refused to do that, they took action to fire him."

Last Monday, Aug. 12, the Neptune Township Committee voted to fire him. York gave this statement to Tap Into in June: "There is no place for homophobia in any context. That does not represent Neptune. That does not represent our values."

Before he was fired, Milmoe spoke before the Township Committee and apologized for his Facebook comments. He said his current girlfriend once had a relationship with a woman, and the two women had a son. He said he and the girlfriend are raising the boy together, and that the boy often sees his two mothers.

"I have family members who are in the LGBTQ community ... I have no ill-will towards anyone," Milmoe said last week. "I acknowledge that my careless off-duty post on a timeline of a friend who lives in Georgia may have upset Neptune residents, which is the absolute last thing I would ever want to do. I want to publicly apologize for the post, especially if it gave anyone the very wrong impression that I am anything other than welcoming of the LGTBTQ+ community. I am not a perfect man, I am a work in progress and every day I strive to be better for myself, my family and the residents of this town."

"He wants his job back," said Reis, his lawyer. "He really was a good director of public works. He tried to save the residents money and do things in a cost-effective manner."

Last week's Patch report: Neptune Fires DPW Director After His Critical LGBTQ Facebook Remarks (Aug. 14)