Toms River Financial Chief, Engineer Quit: Report

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Two more Toms River Township officials have resigned from their positions, according to a report.

Judith Tutela, the township's chief financial officer, and Wendy Birkhead, the township engineer, have joined the list of departures from town hall, The Lakewood Scoop reported.

A request for comment to Mayor Daniel Rodrick was not answered. Rodrick confirmed the resignations to the Lakewood Scoop, however, and called them "politically timed" to hurt him.

Tutela's last day is set for March 22, sources confirmed to Patch, as she had to give 30 days' notice under her contract. She has not responded to a message requesting comment.

Tutela has been the chief financial officer since Sept. 1, 2021, when she was hired to replace Alexander Davidson, who left the post.

Birkhead, who had worked for Toms River since 2008, had been promoted to township engineer in January after Rodrick fired Robert Chankalian, the previous township engineer.

Birkhead could not be reached for comment.

Toms River Township's public information officer, Phil Stilton, also left the township offices on Monday after an argument, but his status as an employee of the town was unclear on Tuesday, he wrote in an update on his Shore News Network.

Those departures come less than a month after Scott Tirella, who Rodrick had named business administrator, resigned from the position. Tirella declined to comment to Patch in January when he was reached by phone in January as the rumors swirled that he had tendered his resignation.

Loring Dunton, who had been Tirella's assistant, also resigned. He declined to comment to Patch but posted a public comment about his departure from the administration, expressing frustration that Rodrick would not accept input from anyone.

Jonathan Salonis has since been appointed as business administrator. It is unclear who might be appointed to succeed Tutela as chief financial officer, as there are specific certifications needed to hold that title.

In addition to the resignations, Rodrick has fired or laid off several other township employees, including eight people in the code enforcement office. He fired Craig Ambrosio, head of the office, on Jan. 19, then fired five code enforcement officers, all of whom earned less than $52,000 a year, and two clerks, who each earned just over $30,000 per year, according to records obtained through an Open Public Records Act request.