Committee discusses administrator Deputy mayor says an administrator would increase efficiency

Committee discusses administrator
Deputy mayor says an administrator would
increase efficiency

With Millstone Township’s population growing and the need for services increasing along with it, some officials would like to see the municipal staff expanded to handle the everyday responsibilities of running the town.

Members of the Township Committee debated the positives and negatives of hiring a township administrator against those of hiring an office manager at last week’s committee meeting.

Deputy Mayor Cory Wingerter, who came out strongly in favor of hiring an administrator, said at the meeting that the township needs someone to handle the day-to-day business of the township.

"This town needs some form of administrator," Wingerter said at the meeting.

He added that the need for an administrator will only increase after the amended Open Public Records Act takes effect in July, since the workload of the clerk, who will be the township’s custodian of all public records, is expected to increase.

Wingerter said that instead of concentrating on questions of policy, the committee is "buried in the minutiae" of running the town.

"We are doing a disservice to the residents of the town if we don’t get somebody with some authority here to take care of day-to-day matters in the township," said the deputy mayor.

Wingerter also said that after discussing the situation with other towns, he felt that an administrator would "improve our efficiency tremendously."

According to Wingerter, Millstone is an "anomaly" among towns of similar size.

"What we are doing is not cutting edge. Towns smaller than us have administrators," he added.

Wingerter said Tuesday that he intends to propose that the committee schedule a special public meeting to discuss the hiring of an office manager/administrator at the next committee meeting.

Committeeman John Pfefferkorn said at the meeting that an administrator would not be a cure-all for all the township’s ills.

He opposes the hiring of an administrator and favors bringing an office manager on board in order to preserve the autonomy of the committee over municipal employees.

Pfefferkorn said Monday that Millstone is still "a small community with a small budget," and that members of the committee should remain hands-on with the management of the town.

"Hiring an administrator would be a political catastrophe," said Pfefferkorn.

Pfefferkorn also said that he believed hiring an administrator would alienate "the managers we have running their departments."

"The role of the liaisons needs to be clearly defined, and they [the department heads] should be the point person for their area, not … an administrator," he added.

According to Pfefferkorn, he was assigned to draw up a job description for an office manager in conjunction with Committeeman William Nurko.

The office manager would be responsible for human resources and personnel in addition to routine office duties, but the reporting structure would not change as it would with an administrator, he said.

If an administrator were hired, municipal employees would report to the person appointed to that position. The administrator would then be the one to report directly to the Township Committee.

Pfefferkorn estimated that an administrator could cost up to $100,000, while the salary for an office manager would probably fall in the $50,000 range.