For over a year, Joe Criscuolo, the recently departed town manager, had been rumored to be leaving Aberdeen Township, whether willingly or not. And, he looks to be moving up, garnering a job in his hometown of Old Bridge, earning an additional $10,000. Excluding the previous town manager, Aberdeen has earned a reputation of rewarding its cherished employees (see Coren, Kelly, Lauro, etc.) and this seems to be part of that tradition. But, what makes this story remarkable is the advertisement seeking a new town manager.
TOWNSHIP MANAGER – ABERDEEN TOWNSHIP,MONMOUTH COUNTY. 18,000 population, $18M municipal budget, 85 FT Employees. Council/Manager form of Government. Seeking experienced professional to serve as CEO, oversee all daily operations and report to 7 Council members, including the Mayor. Must be highly motivated, goal/results oriented and have excellent communication skills to deal with all levels of government and community. Must have a strong financial background. Responsibilities include overseeing municipal services, capital planning and labor relations. Must have 5+ years experience in municipal government management. Bachelor’s degree required. MPA preferred. Salary range DOQ/DOE. Send 8 copies of resume and cover letter, including salary requirements to: Fred Tagliarini, 19 Faith Lane, Aberdeen, NJ 07747 Ad Posted January 14, 2011 Ad Removed February 28, 2011. [Bold added for emphasis]
How bizarre. I can’t imagine the school board president requesting all job applications for the superintendent’s position be sent to his home. Nor has any other town’s job posting at the League of Municipalities made a similar request. The question is why.
One possibility is convenience except that receiving the applications at home is inconvenient since the other council members will now need to wait until Mayor Tagliarini distributes the applications. Furthermore, he will be responsible for storing and distributing the applications rather than a town employee.
Perhaps the issue is confidentiality, that the council doesn’t want any town employee to be privy to whom has applied. If so, why has the township requested “8 copies”? Who will receive the 8th copy?
The process is troubling because the mayor, first among peers on the town council, has now been appointed gatekeeper of all the applications. By default, he has the ability to exclude any application from consideration.
Another problem is, given Aberdeen’s troubling history of political patronage, the town council has given the residents one more reason to believe the fix is in.
Finally, we’re still left with the original question. Why instruct applicants to mail their resumes to the mayor’s home? >>> Read more!
