Opinion: Three Trustees on Sept. 15 Votes

The following opinion is submitted on behalf of Deborah Davis Ford, Howard Levison and Mark Rosner.

Thursday, September 15, 2011, the Board of Trustees held a Special Meeting to vote on 3 resolutions.

We voted yes on all the resolutions in the best interest of the Village and tax payers. The reasons are expressed below:

The BOT, in an advertised closed session, discussed the issues involved, potential risks, compressed timing, and defined guidelines for a negotiating subcommittee, all unanimously agreed to by the Board.   Immediately following the meeting, the subcommittee  provided to John Gross a terms list, at which time were discussed with John.  John and the subcommittee came to an agreed draft position for discussion/presentation to the complete Board.   This was a compressed process since moving forward was of time of the essence. The negotiating committee was formed to establish terms with John Gross in the best interest of the Village and taxpayers.  

After an agreement was reached, the Negotiating team was charged with making a recommendation to the full board for a vote.  The two resolutions below were crafted from the negotiated agreement and presented to the full Board of Trustees during a Special Public Meeting on Thursday, September 15, 2011.

• Resolution 2011-242 to authorize the Village President to execute a  to South Orange.
• Resolution 2011-243 to authorize the Village President to execute a contract with John O. Gross to remain in South Orange as part-time CFO.

Village Administrator consulting Agreement

It will take approximately 3-6 months to fill the Village Administrator position according to professional services firms.  As a result, a Village Administrator Transition Agreement was needed with John Gross for following reasons:

• Ensure continuity of Village operations
• Ensure smooth transition including major projects/issues such as Third Street, East Orange Water lawsuit, Village Hall renovation, Union contractual negotiations, etc.
• Ensure implementation of budget recently passed and the start of the 2012 budget process with the interim Administrator.

In addition John has valuable institutional knowledge critical to any successful transition process.

CFO Agreement

John Gross had lifetime benefits guaranteed by NJ State stature.   He agreed to the following as a result of negotiations.

• Giving up his lifetime appointment as CFO by voluntarily resigning  effective 2013
• Giving up claim to lifetime health benefits
• Getting written agreement from West Orange  allowing to work up to 10 hours/week during regular business hours at the convience of the  Village
• Must perform  all CFO  duties as required by state stature
• Allowed both contracts to be tied together - failure to deliver on one would lead to termination of both contracts.
• Providing for conditions and process for default

John Gross received a good rating from all the Trustees on his most recent CFO performance review. He had full protection by NJ State Stature 40A:9-140.13. to keep the CFO position for life. Therefore he did not resign from his CFO position when he offered his resignation as Village Administrator.

We proposed that this was in the best interests of the Village and tax payers, since it removes a substantial future healthcare cost, frees us to hire someone new in the near future, and potentially avoids messy litigation around a state tenure law that favors incumbents.  All of the Board of Trustee discussion concerning these matters took place at executive sessions which were noticed to the public and formal action was taken at a public meeting, everything meeting the requirements of the Open Public Meeting Act.

The third resolution was for a contract interim Village Administrator as John Gross’ last day as Village Administrator is September 30, 2011.  This action was taken at the same public meeting.