JACKSON – Fiscal spending and budgetary practices have been the dominant subject at Township Council meetings for several months now. Recently, the administrative staff of the mayor and council president were brought up along with the retention levels of township employees.
During the last meeting resident and mayoral candidate Elliott Shem-Tov who described himself as a fiscal hawk, spoke during the public comment period about township spending. He noted the mayor has an administrative assistant, Erica LaRue who is being paid $30,000 annually and who also works for “JLK the mayor’s private real estate business.”
“I’m not making accusations. I am asking a question every resident has a right to ask, what firewall exists to ensure no JLK work is being done on township time in township offices on township equipment?” he asked. He added if there were no safeguards to this, “this is textbook conflict of interest waiting to happen.”
He noted that Council President Mordechai Burnstein also has an administrative “assistant Leah Zulkovitz who is paid $50,000 a year working remotely, hired in October. Most residents have never heard her name. The clerk’s office already serves this council and this council president. I’d like to know on the record, what is her job description? What work product does she produce?”
Mayor Kuhn had left the meeting by the time the public comment period had started and was not present to respond. Council President Burnstein told the resident that he would not “respond to political accusations” regarding the subject of his staff assistant.
Burnstein also told Shem-Tov during the meeting that “I don’t have to respond to a political stump speech. Many of the things you said were inaccurate.”
In seeking further information, The Jackson Times reached out to Mayor Kuhn to verify that the position existed, when it was created, its purpose, and if they worked for her firm and if the position was full or part-time and what the salary range was.
The mayor responded “the position referenced does exist. The employee in question serves the Township in a part-time capacity, working approximately 20 hours per week in an administrative support role to assist the Mayor’s Office with constituent services, scheduling, correspondence, and other day-to-day operational matters.”
She explained the position “was created to help ensure the efficient functioning of the office and responsiveness to residents. The employee was selected for this role based on her proven professionalism, strong work ethic, organizational skills, integrity, and ability to effectively manage administrative responsibilities. Her performance has consistently reflected those qualities.”
“It is also accurate that she maintains separate employment outside of municipal government. However, all work performed for the Township is conducted entirely outside of and independent from her other employment responsibilities,” the mayor added.
Kuhn maintains “the duties associated with the municipal position and those associated with her private employment are wholly separate and unrelated. Accordingly, there is no conflict of interest. There is no overlap in duties, authority, decision-making, or operational responsibilities between the two positions, nor is there any adverse relationship between them.”
“As has long been standard practice, any municipal matters involving my real estate office are already addressed through established conflict procedures to ensure transparency, impartiality, and compliance with all applicable ethical standards,” Kuhn added.
“The employee serves in a part-time capacity and is compensated accordingly through the Township’s normal payroll process. Her employment arrangement is consistent with the operational needs of the Mayor’s Office and with practices commonly utilized in municipalities of similar size. I remain committed to transparency and to ensuring that all Township operations are conducted appropriately and ethically,” she added.
Employee Retention Issues
Councilman Nino Borrelli expressed his concerns “on the record about the employee retention problems in town hall offices particularly in the last year. It is very disconcerting and something needs to change and quickly in that regard.”
Councilman Chris Pollak agreed stating he was also concerned “about the employee turnover rate that we are seeing inside town hall and the mounting number of lawsuits that we are dealing with. It feels like repeated behavior, repeated complaints and repeated departures.”
He noted that this problem has meant “more and more legal issues so after a while it stops looking like a coincidence and becoming a pattern. Let’s hope we can nail down solid people to stay.”
A resident asked about a budget consultant that was hired stating the township was currently paying that individual $17,175. “Until December you have $325 left to pay this person and then it goes above the pay to play threshold.”
She added, “you have a CFO (Chief Financial Officer Jeanette Larrison who also works for Manchester Township) that is shared services that only has to be in this building for four consecutive hours a week. We are paying an outside service to run this town. No one will work here.”
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