GOP official got job on his merits, mayor says

Scott M. Pezarras

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Politics played no part in the recent hiring of a Toms River Republican Party official, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

Acropolis said he could "care less" about a person's political affiliation.

"Don't judge me on what the Democrats are going to say," Acropolis said. "I don't hire people based on political party. Never have, never did. If he happens to be an official in the Republican club, so be it. Should that disqualify him from the job? No."

Juan Bellu started work early this month as a data systems analyst. But he will serve primarily as an assistant business administrator, the mayor said.

Bellu will represent Business Administrator Scott M. Pezarras and the mayor at meetings "we can't get to," Acropolis said.

"He'll be doing contract negotiations," he said. "He's an accountant. He's a numbers guy. I've known him for the last 15 to 20 years as an accountant. He runs the MUA in Toms River."

Bellu's current salary is $99,980. But that could change when the council adopts an ordinance that amends the township code to raise the range for deputy department head salaries from zero to $118,671, Pezarras said Monday.

Stephen C. Acropolis

Acropolis also hired David Francese, the past president of the Brick Pop Warner Dragons. Francese was also hired as a data systems analyst, at a salary of roughly $85,000. Acropolis plans to make him director of the newly created Department of Recreation, once the position is established.

"I would like him to eventually become the department head of

recreation," Acropolis

said. I would like Andrea Zapcic to become deputy director, with no increase in salary, if she wants that job."

Acropolis and Township Council members praised Zapcic, the current recreation superintendent, at her budget presentation last year for all the work she had done.

"Praising someone for doing their job doesn't mean they are going to get promoted or get a department," Acropolis said. "At least Dave Francese has run an organization of 1,000 and he's got some experience. More than anything else, he's a manager." Neither Bellu nor Francese will have civil service protection, unlike some employees who came on during the years Joseph C. Scarpelli was mayor, Acropolis said.

"They tried to give all of their family and friends civil service protection, so that none of them would be able to be moved, fired, whatever," he said. "Nobody would be able to move if a new mayor came in. I just don't feel that's the way you are supposed to be doing business."

The mayor has pledged to revamp the township's organizational structure. He recently added two new departments - Community Development and Land Use and Recreation.

"We are allowed to have nine, according to state statute, under the Faulkner form of government," the mayor said. "You are not increasing the size of government, you are increasing the way government operates as far as structure goes."

Bellu is a trustee in the Regular Republican Club of Toms River. He owns his own accounting and financial consultant business in Toms River.

"I want to pick people I feel have the same thought process as I do when it comes to government," Acropolis said. "The Democratic leadership in Brick does not do anything for me when it comes to running our town."

"I would ask anybody who questions what I am doing, 'Where were you over the past 15 years, when he [Scarpelli] loaded up the payroll with family and friends,' " Acropolis added.

When asked if Bellu was a potential replacement for Pezarras, Acropolis said, "I don't see Scott going anywhere. Scott has done a good job."

The mayor said his leadership team in Brick consists of Pezarras, Bellu and township purchasing agent Richard McDonald.

"Those are the people you want on your team," he said. "Especially in this time of troubled waters. If Scott Pezarras decided to leave tomorrow, Juan Bellu could fill his shoes, with some help. You can't have only one guy that knows what's going on in Brick Township."