The Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority's new executive director has dropped out and commissioners voted Tuesday to retain Interim Executive Director Bryan Christiansen until a permanent one can be hired.
The authority provides solid waste and sewer services to the city and operates a transfer station on Rock Avenue, where by contract several other municipalities may bring vegetative and bulky waste.
Former Jersey City Public Works Director Rodney Hadley was slated to start in mid-June and would have been only the third permanent executive director in the authority's history.
Eric Watson served from the authority's formation in 1995 until 2011, when Duane Young became acting director. Watson had been director of the city's Department of Public Works & Urban Development before becoming the PMUA director and in September 2014 came back to the city as department head.
On July 1, 2012, former Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson began a three-year term as PMUA's executive director, but was not re-hired.
PMUA commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to retain Christiansen's firm, The Moorings Group, with compensation continuing at the rate of $125 hourly, plus reimbursement for travel and other out-of-pocket expenses. His initial contract was just for six weeks, through mid-June, but the resolution passed Tuesday says he will stay on at PMUA "until such time as a qualified individual can be hired to serve as its full-time executive director."
At his first meeting as interim executive director in May, Christiansen said he had more than 30 years' experience with solid waste and sewer authorities. He last served as director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority before forming his own company.
The commissioners met in closed session to discuss items including the search for a new director. It was decided that Christiansen will assist in reviewing resumes already submitted by four or five candidates.
--Bernice
Wise man! He probably looked into the politics, inexperienced Board and the lack of leadership on the Board and made the right decision .
ReplyDeletehmmmm.......
ReplyDelete$125.00 an hour??!! That adds up pretty quickly. At 20 40-hour weeks, that's $1,000,000! Is he really that good?
ReplyDelete-Vicky
That rate is ridiculous to have him be a babysitter. He is not really doing anything else. At least Williamson was getting contracts and other things done. What a waste of money. Oh! That's right, they will just charge it to our rate and have an increase
DeleteI think it's more like 100,000 rather than a million, Vicky!!!
DeleteIf he worked 40 hours for one full year, the salary would be $260,000. still too much but no where close to $1,000.000? huh!
Delete$100K Vicky
ReplyDeleteThe Council should take a lesson from the recent political events here and put some diversity on the PMUA Board. For a long time it has looked thick as thieves with people hand-picked by Jerry Green.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mr. Hadley accepted the position did he fail to understand that the organization which he was to head collected solid waste? If not, when did the epiphany occur? Not having experience with solid waste should not have been a deterrent. Mr. Williamson did not have any experience in that area either. Not knowing anything about the industry did not discourage him.
ReplyDeleteAs to the interim Director, keep him forever. 100k is a bargain. The regular guy gets about 160K in the envelope and in the order of another 40 K in benefits.
Bill Kruse
The current purported reason that Mr. Hadley decided not to take the job resulted from his receiving at his home harassing phone calls from Plainfield City Council officials. If this is true it suggests that Mr. Hadley was probably well qualified for the job. If it is true the conduct of those who made the calls is
ReplyDeletereprehensible.