Donovan Fires 7 Utility Commissioners Over Benefits, Stipends

Seven commissioners of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority (NBUA) received pink slips Monday from County Executive Kathleen Donovan after they refused to give up medical benefits and financial stipends, according to the county executive.

"The fired, part-time commissioners have defied the County Executive's order to cease taking stipends and full-time health benefits and ignored Ms. Donovan's which have been upheld by the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services (DLGS)," Donovan's office wrote in a statement Monday.

The firings represent the culmination of years of bad blood between the sewage authority commissioners and the county's top administrator. In a previous interview with Patch, NBUA Executive Director Howard Hurwitz said some commissioners received a $5,000 annual stipend and medical benefits, a point Donovan's Chief of Staff Jeanne Baratta confirmed Monday. 

It was evidently too much for Donovan. Citing Governor as good legal standing, the county's top official dropped Chairman William F. Dator, Vice Chairman Michael Kasparian, Commissioner Brian Chewcaskie, Commissioner Peter Dachnowicz, Commissioner Frank Kelaher, Commissioner Marion Plumley and Commissioner Jason T. Shafron.

"Your actions fail to honor your oath of office and are contrary to my administration's efforts to promote sound fiscal policy which I have pledged to the taxpayers of the County of Bergen," Donovan wrote in her letter to the deposed commissioners. 

Commissioner Ken Gabbert, the , was spared from the sweep. He and another commissioner will not be receiving stipends or health benefits, Donovan said, and are now the only sitting members on the board.

In the press release, Donovan said she'll be asking the county freeholders to confirm her undisclosed group of replacement candidates at its next upcoming meeting.

The body, which counts nine members, is responsible for overseeing sewage processing for eleven communities in Northwest Bergen County, including Ridgewood.

Jessica Mazzola contributed to this report.