Restaino Resigns

Plaintalker has confirmed that Acting City Administrator Al Restaino has resigned, effective Monday.

Restaino was director of the Office of Community Development under Mayor Albert McWilliams and
retained his position in 2006, when Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs took office. The office is responsible for carrying out the Community Development Block Grant program. In November 2010, Restaino was named head of the Department of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services.

The City Charter call for all divisions to fall under three departments and social services were removed from Public Affairs & Safety during the administration of Mayor Mark Fury and placed with Administration and Finance. More recently, the new divisions of Information Technology and Media were added to the department. So Restaino was in charge of the offices of tax collector, tax assessor, audit & control, purchasing and Municipal Court as well as Health & Social Services, which included the Women, Infants & Children nutrition program, Vital Statistics, Bilingual Day Care Center, Animal Control, Communicable Diseases, Personnel, Plainfield Action Services and the Senior Center in addition to IT and Media.

In September, City Administrator Eric Berry resigned and Restaino added acting city administrator to his other titles. See Plaintalker's post here.

Restaino was the fifth person during Robinson-Briggs' tenure to serve as AFH&SS director and the eighth to sit in the city administrator's seat.

The cumbersome arrangement of three departments and many divisions was explored by a Charter Study Commission this year. To see its report and recommendations, click here