STONE HARBOR – The Borough Council on Dec. 2 reintroduced an ordinance that would create the position of assistant borough administrator, a $120,000 post that council members would like Chuck Schlager, the borough’s director of human resources, to fill.
The position of assistant administrator is part of a larger reorganization of the Department of Administration in the borough, a reorganization outlined in a second ordinance that was also introduced at the Dec. 2 meeting. The reorganization has never been outlined in detail to the public at a council meeting.
Mayor Tim Carney has argued that establishing another senior position and reorganizing administration should be left to the new council that will be installed in January, when two new members will be sworn in to the six-person council. Carney maintains these members will have to live with any changes made by the current council just weeks before it welcomes them.
Several members of the public have used the public comment period at council meetings to oppose the hiring of an assistant administrator, with a number of them arguing that the small borough is becoming top heavy with high-level positions and that administrator Joseph Clark should be able to handle the duties of head of administration without help from another senior administrator.
Although some members of the council have argued in favor of moving ahead with the two ordinances, the discussions have not really addressed the issue of why the reorganization cannot wait the extra weeks before there is a significant change in council membership as a result of the November elections.
Both ordinances are scheduled for a public hearing at the Dec. 16 council meeting at 5 p.m. in Borough Hall; a vote on them could follow.
The borough hired Clark in June. He is the borough’s third administrator since January 2020. Both previous administrators were fired by the council, with one, Robert Smith, initiating litigation over his dismissal and then settling the litigation for $150,000 this year.
Clark is also enmeshed in a lawsuit, which he brought against his previous employer, Howell Township, where he claims he was forced out of his job as administrator for opposing unlawful ordinances that amounted to racial profiling. One of the remedies that Clark lists in his court filings is reinstatement to his position in Howell, a remedy that he says is common in suits of this type. He says that he is happy with his new position in Stone Harbor.
