Is a boro administrator in Oceanport's future?
Controversy over return of post to boro payroll
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

OCEANPORT - - The Oceanport Council is expected to vote tonight on the salaries of several borough positions, including one post that has been vacant for more than 20 years.

The council will vote on an ordinance that reinstates the position of business administrator to the list of borough offices, according to Mayor Lucille Chaump, who said the position has not been filled since the 1970s.

The salary range for the administrator will be $15,000 to $90,000, according to the ordinance.

"There is a lot of controversy over this position," said Chaump in an interview Monday.

"Some council members feel we need one. They think the administrator will be able to get the borough more grants."

Chaump added, "Has the council looked at the total picture? No, I don't think they have."

A public hearing will be held prior to the vote at tonight's council meeting scheduled at 8 p.m.

One borough resident expressed outrage about the addition of an administrator to the borough.

"I don't think the borough needs one," Allan Johnson, Belmar Avenue, said in an interview this week.

"It is not necessary," he said. "The people currently working for the borough are already handling everything."

Johnson said he planned to attend the meeting tonight to ask council not to pass the ordinance.

Johnson also said rather than hire a business administrator at a salary as high as $90,000, the borough could promote its clerk.

"Our present borough clerk has the credentials to do the tasks of a business administrator," Johnson said.

"They should promote her and give her the staff she needs to do the job.

"This just seems like something council is trying to push through and it is just going to increase our taxes," Johnson added.

Chaump explained that council first introduced an ordinance to fix and determine the salaries of certain borough officials in February that called for a part-time administrator for a salary range of $15,000 to $45,000.

"During a budget workshop discussion, it was agreed upon that an administrator was needed part time," Chaump said.

"At the next meeting, it was decided that a full-time position was needed and the salary was increased up to $90,000," she said.

But Chaump said council members are debating several issues surrounding the position of borough administrator.

One issue Chaump identified is what the duties of the administrator will be.

Chaump said surrounding towns that are similar in size to Oceanport do not have a full-time administrator.

"West Long Branch does not have one," she said. "Sea Bright has a part-time one and Little Silver has a business administrator who is also the clerk.

"It is your larger towns that have a full-time administrator," she said.