Mayor backs GOP freeholder for MUA slot

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis has said that if it were up to him, he would hire Freeholder James F. Lacey as the next director of the Municipal Utilities Authority.

"I don't need an engineer to run the MUA," he said last week. "I need a manager. I don't need a heavy equipment operator to run the public works department."

The mayor got his wish on Monday night, when the MUA commissioners voted 5 to 0 to appoint the Republican freeholder to the $135,000 a year job.

"If I had my choice, I would hire him," Acropolis said last week.

Lacey did not attend the Jan. 28 MUA meeting. He starts at the MUA on Feb. 15.

Lacey recently declined to discuss his qualifications for the job and said it was a "private matter."

Lacey is currently the full-time administrator in Beachwood, a position that was created in February 2005. He was appointed by former Republican Mayor Harold Morris, who lost his bid for re-election in November to Democrat Ronald Jones.

Jones has said he plans to eliminate the administrator's position, according to published reports.

Acropolis said he thinks the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority "made a mistake" when they recently hired an engineer with 30 years of experience in water resources as the new executive director.

"How do they know how that person is going to perform under pressure?" he said. "Do you really know?"

Brick MUA Chairman Patrick L. Bottazzi said there were eight applicants for the job. Two of the others were "very strong" candidates, he said.

Bottazzi has also said that an engineering degree was not needed for the MUA executive director position. The MUA was looking for someone with a bachelor's degree in business management, he said.

"He [Lacey] will bring a lot to the table," Bottazzi said. "This board has done a good thing. He has a three-year contract and time will tell."

The Brick MUA has been without a permanent executive director since last April, when Kevin Donald resigned.

Stephen Specht, the MUA's director of engineering and operations, has been serving as acting executive director for the past nine months. He declined to apply for the job, according to Bottazzi.

Specht is a licensed professional engineer who also oversees sewer collection and water distribution issues and customer service installations.

He had no comment on the new executive director position.

The authority will hold its 2008 reorganization meeting at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 1, at the MUA's administration building on Route 88 West.

Danielle Medina and Patricia A. Miller contributed to the story