Community Center Spot Will Force Lawshe to Resign

Councilman Gordon Lawshe's days as a member of Caldwell's governing body are likely coming to an end.

While he missed Tuesday night's meeting due to a family emergency, the rest of the council voted 4-to-1—with Councilman Kay Slattery opposed—to offer Lawshe the sports programs/membership director position at the Caldwell Community Center.

If Lawshe accepts the role, he will be forced to resign from the governing body, Municipal Attorney Greg Mascera said. Lawshe told The Caldwells Patch Wednesday morning he plans to accept the position.

According to Councilman Peter Murray, the Republican County Committee would present three candidates to the governing body to fill the vacancy within 30 days if Lawshe, who is in the second year of his three-year term, accepts the position.

However, Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin said Wednesday since Lawshe's resignation would be prior to Sept. 1, a special election would need to be held on Election Day.

But Slattery opposed the resolution that authorized Borough Administrator Paul Carelli to offer the position to Lawshe for $49,000 a year.

"For me, this is a budget issue," she said. "We've lost state funding, we've held back salary increases—I understand this is an existing position in the budget but it is not being funded right now because the position is vacant. I really do not see the urgency in another $50,000 for a secondary position. This will be underneath the new director of the community center."

Slattery, who said her argument was based solely on the position itself and not the person involved, said newly appointed community center director Rob Paterson hasn't been given enough time to develop more programs and increase membership on his own.

"When we hired the new community center director, one of the many things he talked about was having a plan for increasing revenue, increasing membership, increasing programs, etcetera, etcetera," Slattery said.

"I don't, in fairness to him, think he has been here long enough for us to see whether or not that can happen or not happen. To hire someone to do it before we can see what he can do, I think is not a prudent use of our $50,000."

Slattery also pointed out during the meeting, which was not attended by Mayor Susan Gartland, that two municipal employees called her earlier in the day to express their opposition when they heard of Lawshe's potential appointment.

In addition, Slattery questioned the scope of the borough's candidate search for the position, since the opening was only advertised locally with The Progress, The Jersey Tomato Press and on the municipal website.

"So it was really limited in scope in terms of the advertising for the position," she said.

However, Councilman Richard Hauser, chairman of the personnel committee, said Paterson felt Lawshe's background was the right fit for the position and the center needed to fill the vacancy since revenue is down by more than $100,000.

"I'm also concerned about spending money where it's not necessary. I thought Rob Paterson laid out pretty clearly for me that the revenue is down more than six figures for the community center and this is an integral part of increasing those revenues to where the budget has been set and to where they have been in the past," Hauser said.

"If that community center is going to be something that's functional, it's critical to get membership and other programming going."