Professionals interview for municipal positions
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

Manalapan

MANALAPAN — As one of its final pieces of business in 2006, the Township Committee held a special meeting on Dec. 27 to interview candidates for the position of township administrator and for professional appointments (i.e. attorney, engineer).

At least one professional was surprised to learn that his interview would be conducted in public.

Committeeman Andrew Lucas said after the meeting that since the candidates who were interviewing for the administrator’s position were being considered for direct employment with the township, their hiring constituted a matter of personnel and they should be, and were, interviewed in private.

No decision was announced on who will be hired as Manalapan’s new administrator. The previous administrator, Alayne Shepler, resigned in December after two years on the job.

However, Lucas said, since the professionals were seeking an appointment and not employment, “in the interest of open government there really was no reason not to hold the interviews out front.”

Presently serving as township attorney is James Kinneally, of the law firm Hoagland, Longo, Moran, of New Brunswick. Kinneally was not present at the special meeting on Dec. 27 and no announcement was made regarding his absence.

When asked by a reporter if he would vote to reappoint Kinneally as township attorney, Lucas said he would not. When asked why, Lucas said, “Due to a lack of timely response to time-sensitive and important issues to the township.”

Lucas referred to an incident when, he said, Kinneally’s failure to review a document in a timely manner resulted in Manalapan losing a contract with a cellular telephone carrier. Lucas said the deal would have generated $125,000 for Manalapan over a five-year period.

“I am not aware of any other Township Committee member wishing to reappoint him,” Lucas said of Kinneally.

Among those who interviewed for the position of township attorney was James Gorman, who presently serves as Manalapan’s Zoning Board of Adjustment attorney.

Also seeking the appointment as municipal attorney was Daniel McCarthy, of Cranford; Carolyn Casagrande, of Cleary, Alfieri, Jones and Hoyle, of Matawan; and Christopher Hanlon, of Hanlon and Niemann, of Freehold Township.

Gorman noted among many things that he had previously served as the municipal attorney in Manalapan 22 years ago and has continued since that time to serve the town in different capacities.

Gorman was the person who noted that in more than “30 years of doing this,” referring to the interview process for a municipal appointment, this was the first time he ever had to do it in public.

“It’s hard to sell yourself to a group of people when there’s a larger group behind you,” he said.

Gorman assured the governing body that despite being a sole practitioner, he would be capable of serving as municipal attorney.

McCarthy said he has served Manalapan as a special counsel in other matters over the past several years. He said he has served as municipal attorney in Cranford, Perth Amboy and Highland Park.

Hanlon, a Manalapan resident whose wife, Noreen, previously served on the Township Committee, drove home the point that as a hometown attorney he would have a personal as well as a professional stake in how well the township runs.

“You can’t get good legal advice from an attorney that doesn’t know where Pension Road is. You get both with me,” he said.

Committeeman Anthony Gennaro asked Hanlon if he was concerned that as a resident of the township he might find himself conflicted when issues involving neighbors come up.

Hanlon said he had served in the past as municipal court judge as well as on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and had never found it to be a problem.

“I’m here for a job and I will be professional. That’s the attitude I’ve approached every job with,” said Hanlon.

Noting that her expertise is not municipal law, Casagrande said she is in the process of completing work at Rutgers University in that particular area of the law and also that Manalapan would have the benefit of the other associates in her firm if and when a problem she needed assistance with surfaced.

Township Engineer Greg Valesi, of CME Associates, was not present for the interviews, but Lucas said that was only because it was not necessary.

Lucas would not say whether CME Associates would be reappointed, however, he did note that he and as far as he knew, the other members of the governing body, were completely satisfied with the work Valesi has done for the township to date.

The Township Committee did hear from James Priolo, of Birdsall Engineering.

Priolo told the governing body that Birdsall employs engineers in all disciplines such as planning, traffic, etc. He said appointing him would give Manalapan the benefit of the entire firm.

“We have a very large staff at your disposal. The staff is available. I’m available,” he said.

The interviews were briskly conducted and concluded with no hint from the members of the committee as to who would be named.

The committee will hold its reorganization meeting for 2007 on Jan. 7. Professional appointments are traditionally made during the reorganization meeting.