Ex-County Administrator Block Named Manchester Business Administrator

MANCHESTER, NJ — The Manchester Township Council is expected to consider a resolution at Monday's council meeting to finalize the appointment of Carl W. Block as the township's new business administrator.

Block, the former Ocean County administrator, was one of the department heads appointed Jan. 3 after Mayor Robert Arace was sworn into office, and was on a list approved by the council at the Jan. 23 Township Council meeting.

Block replaces Brandon Umba, who had held the position since July 2021.

The council approved Arace's appointment of Block and others with a 2-0 vote. Council Vice President James Vaccaro and Councilman Joseph Hankins voted in favor, and Councilwoman Michele Zolezi abstained. Council President Roxanne Coniff was absent, and the fifth council seat was vacant due to the resignation of Samuel Fusaro, who moved out of town.

Block, a longtime ally of Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, was ousted as the county administrator last year when the Board of Commissioners declined to reappoint him after 12 years in the job. His ouster came over the objections of Gilmore, the Asbury Park Press reported.

The resolution to approve Block's contract sets his salary at $149,000. Block was earning more than $206,000 as county administrator as of 2021, according to Open Payrolls.com, which tracks the salaries of public employees.

Umba was appointed by former Mayor Robert Hudak in July 2021 to replace Donna Markulic, who left to become the business administrator in Egg Harbor Township. Umba was reappointed July 25, 2022. His 2022 salary was $156,000, as set in a Jan. 1, 2022, resolution.

Umba's contract did not specify the length of his appointment, but it did have a clause that requires 90 days advance notice if he is not being reappointed, and requiring that his salary and benefits be continued for those 90 days. Under New Jersey state statutes, the business administrator serves "at the pleasure of the governing body."

Umba, a Republican who lives in Medford and also serves in the New Jersey Assembly, did not respond to requests for comment.

Block, 71, who lives in Stafford, has been a fixture in Ocean County politics for years. He was elected mayor of Stafford in 1983 and served for 26 years, and was deputy clerk of Ocean County before being elected county clerk in 2003. He won re-election as the clerk in 2008, and was appointed the county administrator in 2010.

Block was earning more than $206,000 as county administrator before he was notified in 2022 by the county Board of Commissioners that he would not be reappointed, the Asbury Park Press report said.

That report said Gilmore and Block are longtime friends, and Gilmore "vehemently oppose(d)" the commissioners' refusal to reappoint Block. Michael Fiure was appointed to succeed Block, the report said.

Gilmore, who was forced to step down as Ocean County Republican Party chairman after he was convicted on tax charges in 2019, won back the chairmanship in 2022. Gilmore was spared prison time when former President Donald Trump pardoned him. Gilmore backed Arace in Arace's campaign for mayor.

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