Lower Replaces Township Manager

VILLAS — At a special meeting Jan. 15, Lower Township Council voted unanimously to remove Township Manager Joseph Jackson and appoint Kathy McPherson as Interim Township Manager.
Council members made no comments but Taxpayers Association member Joe Winters had a list of complaints against Jackson’s performance as Township Manager.
He said the Bennett’s Crossing Recreational Complex “was still an eyesore.”
Winters said Jackson “did not pay attention to what was going on” when Township Council attempted to take over operation of Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA). He said no one read the charter of the MUA, which indicated it was an autonomous authority.
“You just can’t go in there and take it over,” said Winters.
Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority Board of Commissioners appointed Jackson as Interim Executive Director Jan. 6, 2008 but that was later rescinded.
Winters also mentioned a “whistle blowers” lawsuit, which cost the township legal fees.
The lawsuit was brought by Lower Township Purchasing Agent Margaret Vitelli and her husband Joseph Vitelli vs. Lower Township and Joe Jackson.
According to the suit, Vitelli claimed she sustained “adverse employment actions and sustained damages as well as personal injury” as result of informing Jackson he could not award a $600,000 contract to township engineers Remington, Vernick and Walberg without putting the contract out for bids for the Bennett’s Crossing Recreation Area.
She claimed the township began a “systematic retaliatory campaign” against her beginning in March 2007 by concocting a fire code violation and later withdrawal of allotted stipends and benefits.
Winters questioned a $30,720 annual contract signed June 13, 2008 by Jackson to switch the township’s phone service from Verizon to Magellan Hill Technologies of Haddonfield, including the police department.
Last year, Winters questioned if the contract had been put out to competitive bids and approved by township council.
At that time, Mayor Walter Craig and former Township Solicitor Paul Baldini said they determined Magellan Hill was a utility and not subject to any bid thresholds therefore the contract could be entered into without a bidding process.
A state official from the Division of Purchase and Property, New Jersey Department of the Treasury, did not agree.
The Magellan Hill proposal offered monthly savings from 5 to 34 percent varying from department to department.
The township is facing a $72,000 fine from the state Department of Environmental Protection due to a stalled project to replace storm water outfall pipes into Delaware Bay. Winters said it was Jackson’s responsibility to make sure all permits were in place.
“We had to pay to pull the contractor off,” he said. “Nothing is finished, people are still suffering with the water problem.”
Last September, Mayor Walter Craig said a project to repair clogged and broken off outfall pipes on the bay would move forward.
A group of owners of bay front homes opposed to extending outfall pipes.
Winters questioned why the township did not have an affordable housing plan
submitted to the state Council on Affordable Housing, which was due last month.
McPherson served as Township Manager from 1999 until Jan. 2007 when she resigned under pressure from former Mayor Walter Craig and former Deputy Mayor Robert Nolan. The change was seen as a political move.
At that time, Councilman Wayne Mazurek cast the lone “no” vote and said there “was absolutely no reason to replace her,” and she was “induced to resign.”
McPherson remained employed by the township as director of personnel, relegated to a tiny office in the Public Safety Building at the county airport that was deemed inaccessible by many township employees.
McPherson told the Herald she was looking forward to working again with the staff at Township Hall, which she called “excellent.”
In April 2008, Township Council approved a three-year contract with Jackson as township manager in a 4-1 vote. He received a yearly salary of $85,000. At issue, Jackson said he is entitled to be paid until Jan. 2010.
The township contends Jackson will be paid for 90 days.