Manchester Council Set To Rescind Creation Of Utilities Department

MANCHESTER, NJ — The Manchester Township Council is preparing to rescind an ordinance passed less than a year ago that established a utilities department in the township.

That department was created in an effort to bring the regulatory officer position — a position required for water and sewer operations — onto the township's payroll in an effort to save money.

Over the last three years, Manchester Township spent more than $650,000 to outside firms to provide a regulatory officer with the required state license to oversee the township's water and sewer utilities.

The Utilities Department was created in August because Manchester was having difficulty attracting a regulatory officer with the proper state licenses for the township's water and sewer departments.

The difficulty was because of the way the public works department was structured, which limited the salary that could be offered, Manchester business administrator Brandon Umba said after the Jan. 23 meeting.

A regulatory officer holding the specific license to supervise the township's water and sewer departments is required under state law. To meet the requirement, Manchester had been paying outside companies to provide the supervisory services necessary.

In 2020, Manchester paid Water Resource Management $207,588.75 to fill that regulatory role, and in 2021, it received $208,436.75, Umba said in an email to Patch.

In 2022, Water Resource Management was paid $182,000 for 10 months and Van Cleef Engineering Associates was paid $53,312 for two months of supervisory service.

Creating the utilities department with a director was expected to cost Manchester significantly less, Umba said. The salary for the position had been set with a range of $95,000 to $160,000 under the township's Aug. 8 salary ordinance.

The repeal ordinance was introduced at the Jan. 23 council meeting by a 2-0 vote, with Councilman Joseph Hankins and Council Vice President James Vaccaro voting in favor and Councilwoman Michele Zolezi abstaining.

Council President Roxanne Conniff was absent, and the council had a vacancy because of the resignation of Samuel Fusaro, who moved out of the township.

After the Jan. 23 meeting, Umba said the township had continued to struggle to find someone to fill the position, because of the specific license needed to hold that regulatory officer position.

The council is anticipated to have a second reading and hearing on the ordinance at the Feb. 13 meeting.

The vote on the introduction of the ordinance — along with several other issues that arose that evening — was an apparent sign of what lies ahead under the change in leadership, particularly for Zolezi.

Zolezi sought to have the ordinance to rescind the creation of the utilities department tabled for additional discussion, but Hankins and Vaccaro declined to consider her motion to table it and voted to introduce it.

In the announcement of committees, Zolezi received just one appointment. And when she objected to a list of professional appointments — several that then-municipal clerk Sabina Martin said had been presented late in the afternoon for inclusion in the agenda — her request to table some for additional discussion was declined.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the firm that has provided the regulatory officer to meet state law from 2020 through 2022. Patch regrets the error.