Fair Haven Administrator's Contract Renewed

Officials in Fair Haven think Administrator Theresa Casagrande is a bonus for the borough, so they gave her one when they renewed her contract months before its expiration.

While the issue of bonuses among borough employees has been questioned by residents, officials have reiterated that they are well-deserved and actually keep budget costs down in the long-run.

Casagrande, who has been touted as a savior during Hurricane Sandy, was given a $6,000 bonus for her work last year. Her salary went from $112,000 to $115,000, Mayor Ben Lucarelli said. And, he added, keeping in mind the chain of authority with her being the supervisor of all borough employees, it should and will go up to $130,000 by the end of this contract's term.

The reasoning behind that figure, Lucraelli said, is that the currently highest paid borough employee is Fair Haven Police Chief Darryl Breckenridge, at a salary of $129,000. Casagrande and other officials figure that even if it's $1 more, as the chief and all other employee's boss, she should be the highest paid.

No question, echoed Councilman Jerome Koch at last week's borough council meeting. "I have said over and over again that Theresa Casagrande's work is outstanding and she could handle running all the towns in this area," he said. "So, yes, she is a bargain and earned that bonus more than anyone I know."

Thinking that shared municipal services will be the mainstream way to go in area towns before long, Councilman Jonathan Peters pointed out that Casagrande, since starting her tenure as administrator, has saved the borough countless dollars in pooling resources with other towns. He pointed to the borough's  pooled Public Works effort with Rumson, which, officials say, has actually brought in money for Fair Haven, among other things.
 
Under the umbrella of the administrator title, Casagrande is also a licensed borough clerk and serves as a deputy as well as the town's official purchasing agent.

In line with savings, the borough has also opted to hire in-house engineer Richard Gardella at an $87,000 annual salary bearing a few other responsibilities, such as zoning officer. He also has an assistant.

In the face of some criticism on the in-house engineering costs, Lucarelli said that the savings on that move was astronomical, citing that T&M Engineers, the firm previously used for necessary borough engineering services, cost the borough "just over $600,000 a year in the last year they were used, and we wound up in a lawsuit because of their work (on StreetScape West)."