West Orange Mayor Appoints Herself Acting Business Administrator

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange Mayor Susan McCartney has added a new job to her resume: business administrator.

On Friday, McCartney announced that she has appointed herself as the town’s acting business administrator, effective immediately.

West Orange’s former business administrator, James Abbott, announced that he is retiring earlier this year.

The township council "explicitly withheld" any authorization to extend the appointment of assistant business administrator Pete Smeraldo to the position at a special meeting last week.

McCartney’s letter – shared on social media by council member Joyce Rudin – says that under the town’s form of government, council members are prohibited from contacting municipal employees without the “express authorization” of the mayor or her designee under state law.

“All communications to any staff member, including but not limited to directors, department heads and all employees, should be directed through me or to my designee, assistant business administrator/chief of staff Peter F. Smeraldo Jr.,” the mayor’s letter reads.

According to town code, the business administrator’s duties include assisting the mayor with preparing the budget, supervising other municipal departments, and enforcing rules and regulations for the “efficient management” of the township government.

The requirements for the position include: “The Business Administrator shall possess a degree from a four year college or university of recognized standing and shall be chosen solely on the basis of his/her actual experience in, or knowledge of, accepted practice in respect to the duties of the office as hereinafter set forth and shall have at least four years of responsible experience in an executive or administrative position related to the duties of the office. A candidate who does not meet the college or university degree requirement may substitute full time experience in a position as Municipal Comptroller, Municipal Treasurer, Municipal Director of Finance or Chief Financial Officer in local government on a year-for-year basis and shall have at least five years of employment in the areas of public administration and/or public accounting, has received certificates evidencing satisfactory completion of training courses in municipal finance administration, principles of financial management and municipal budget process or such other training courses as are certified as their equivalent by Rutgers, The State University, and approved by the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services.”

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