Fort panel to apply for $1.35M in federal aid
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH- The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority is applying for $1.35 million in federal funds to start up business.

Should the month-old authority receive that amount from the U.S. Defense Department's Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), the New Jersey State government would also contribute a ten percent matching grant of $150,000 set aside in the state budget for fiscal year 2007.

The combined total of federal and state funding would equal $1.5 million, the amount of the tentative, fiscal year budget adopted by eight of the authority's nine voting members present at its Aug. 16 meeting at Monmouth University's Woodrow Wilson Hall.

From that budget, the authority can then hire an executive director, other personnel, and set up operations geared towards replacing about 10,000 technical jobs and redeveloping over 1,100 acres at Fort Monmouth after it is shuttered as a result of the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process in September 2011.

However, in its application, the authority must account to OEA for how it will use every penny of the requested $1.35 million according to John Leigh, a Defense Department program manager working with the state-sanctioned panel.

"This doesn't mean you're going to get $1.35 million," Leigh said. "You have to prove need."

Authority Chairman Robert Lucky promised Leigh that the authority will spend any federal or state funding it receives responsibly.

"We're not going to gratuitously spend money," Lucky said.

Though Lucky was initially hesitant to vote on the budget until the authority is notified about how much OEA funding will be received, John Ciufo, an account executive with the New Jersey Department of Commerce urged an immediate vote.

The authority must adopt a "skeletal budget" before the state would release the matching funds of $150,000 said Ciufo, who works for state Commerce Secretary Virginia S. Bauer, the authority's co-chairperson.

The latest application for OEA funding replaces one for $500,000 that the authority had originally voted to submit to the federal government during its inaugural meeting on July 14.

The increase in the request is also intended to cover expenses incurred during the period between July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, the approved resolution states.

A total of $132,750 has been set aside in the tentative budget to pay salary, benefits, and pension to an executive director to lead the authority's operations.

Salaries, health benefits and pensions for other positions included in the adopted budget are: $112,837 for a chief financial officer (CFO); $106,200 for a deputy director; $66,375 for a property coordinator; and $66,375 for an executive assistant.

Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian Burry, the county's representative to the panel, described the suggested compensation for the CFO post as "a little excessive."

The authority might be to hire a certified accountant to do the same type of job for less money, Burry said.

For now, the authority ought to hire its executive director first and allow that person to determine the rest of the staffing needs and submit recommendations to the panel, she said.

After each authority member received copies of the resumes received to date for their perusal, Lucky advised the panelists to recommend those candidates that best meet the qualifications presented in a job description adopted earlier this month.

Within seven days, members are to forward those resumes to the authority's personnel committee, chaired by Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo.

In separate action, the authority adopted a resolution to offer health benefits, including prescription and dental coverage, to its employees through the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program.

"In order to attract the most qualified personnel, I think that we should offer the best health benefits possible," Bauer said prior to the unanimous vote.

Speaking as a member of the public, W. Bryan Dempsey, business administrator in Tinton Falls, one of the fort's three host communities, questioned the panel about the cost effectiveness of buying into the state plan.

"You're not shopping for health insurance," Dempsey said. "You're assuming that the state health insurance plan is the best deal out there."

Lucky told Dempsey that the authority had to have benefits in place first to attract job candidates.

The authority also agreed to enroll its employees in the state's pension plan, the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS).

Though the authority is using the state system now, nothing is etched in stone, Tarantolo said.

"We need this [PERS] in place to attract the right people for the jobs we have available," Tarantolo said. "If we need to go in a different direction, we have the option of doing so."

The authority's mission is to redevelop for its land and facilities and to attract new jobs to replace those being transferred to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground.