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Council Appoints New Attorney, Prosecutor During Annual Reorganization
By Catherine Snipe
In with the new year, and that means a new council president and vice president for Brick.
But it also meant a lot of the same.
At its organizational meeting January 1, the township decided who would serve in many of the administra- tive positions of Brick. And many were the same folks and firms who led township departments last year. All but two remained unchanged.
This year, those endorsements were made by an acting mayor whose term will end next week. Virginia Lampman, township clerk, is serving as mayor until a replacement for Joseph Scarpelli is found. Scarpelli resigned early December; the deadline for the township council to pick a replacement is January 7.
Lampman put forth her list of appointments, but they received a vote of disapproval
from councilwoman Kathy Russell.
Russell said the informational packets the council received were incomplete, lacking resumes on the candidates and other information, and therefore she could not endorse the appointees. She was the single "no" vote in what would have been unanimous endorsements for township engineer, prosecutor and administrator, among the several dozen appointments made this week.
Russell also questioned if the acting mayor had time to interview the candidates.
Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro said that was a confusing stance to take, considering many of the appointments were the officials who have held the job for the past year.
Lampman reminded the council she is serving as a temporary appointment. Her term will last a little longer than three weeks before she once again assumed the role of township clerk.
Councilman Stephen Acropolis called Russell's votes politically motivated. Russell is the lone Democrat on the council.
Russell also voted against her own appointment to the Local Assistance Board.
Among the several dozen appointments ultimately approved by the council was making official the work Scott M. Pezarras has done since the early summer. Pezarras has been the acting township administrator
since Scott MacFadden left last year. With
the turn of the calendar, Pezarras drops the "acting" from his title and is the township administrator.
Township council members commended his work before confirming his appointment. Pezarras will receive $149,900 salary, which he's had since he became acting business administrator.
In one of two changes from last year, the township will use a different law firm. The firm of Gilmore and Monahan was appointed to the position of township attorney, replacing Starkey, Kelly, Bauer & Kenneally. The contract is the same in its amount, which will pay $165 an hour with the total not to exceed $200,000.
Charles Starkey's firm and another, Apruzzese, McDermott, Mastro and Murphy, were both given work for other legal services not to exceed $100,000.
The second change is for municipal prosecutor. Steven Zabarsky received the appointment, replacing Kimberly Casten. Casten is also one of three nominees for the mayoral appointment.
All other appointments remain unchanged from last year.
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