Former MUA official never saw résumés for top spot
Petoia says procedure not followed in hiring of freeholder
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

A former Municipal Utilities Authority commissioner has questioned the selection process that led to the hiring of Republican Freeholder James F. Lacey as the authority's new executive director.

Lacey, who started his new $135,000 job as MUA executive director Feb. 15, has never released his qualifications for the position to the press or the public.

MUA commissioners met at a caucus meeting before the Feb. 1 organization meeting, where Lacey was appointed by a 5-0 vote.

Now-former MUA Commissioner Salvatore Petoia said he asked MUA Chairman Patrick L. Bottazzi at the caucus meeting why the commissioners were never given the résumés of the other seven applicants for the job.

Bottazzi told him he could have come in and looked at the résumés, Petoia said.

"That's a departure from the normal way things are done," Petoia said. "Normally we find out who is applying for a job and a lot of times we get the résumés."

The MUA's personnel committee reviews the applications, makes a recommendation to the full board and then the commissioners discuss the candidates, he said.

"When I got the agenda for that night, the resolution appointing Lacey was already there, with his name on it, before the meeting," Petoia said.

Bottazzi, who was in Florida late last week, said the résumés were "in the office for all commissioners to see."

"How do I know if he [Petoia] saw it?" Bottazzi said. "No comment. You people twist words around."

But Bottazzi also complimented Petoia, said he was a great commissioner and that he was sorry to see him go.

Petoia said he e-mailed Bottazzi before the organization meeting to ask about who the other applicants for the executive director position were.

"I never got a response to that," he said.

In the end, Petoia abstained on the executive director vote at his last MUA meeting because he felt he had a conflict of interest with the freeholders, who had appointed him to serve on a county board.

"I want to make it clear about the vote that night," he said. "For anybody who didn't know, they would naturally assume I voted in the affirmative. I did not. I stepped down because of the conflict of interest."

Petoia also said he had an informal discussion with Lacey when they met at a Central Jersey Rail Coalition press conference two weeks before Lacey was appointed. The two men briefly discussed water desalinization and reverse osmosis, he said.

"There was no question he was trying to convince me he wasn't just a political hack," Petoia said. "For all I know, Jim Lacey may be the best qualified for the job of all those who applied for it."

But Petoia said he could not make that determination without seeing Lacey's résumé or the other applicants' résumés.

"How do you plot a graph with one point?" he asked. "The only other person I could measure him by was Steve Specht. But according to Chairman Bottazzi, Steve was not interested in the job."

Steven Specht, a licensed professional engineer, had served as acting MUA executive director since last April, when Kevin Donald resigned. He was appointed deputy MUA director at the organization meeting.

Specht declined to comment last month on whether he was interested in the executive director position.

"What person sitting in the top slot would be willing to give that up and step down?" Petoia said. "He would have been at the pinnacle of his career. People over there loved him. He was doing a fine job, doing design and operations work, as well as running the organization. Anybody that tells me he wouldn't want to stay in that position, I just wouldn't buy it."

Petoia, a lifelong registered independent, served on the MUA for eight years. He was not reappointed to the MUAwhen his term expired Dec. 31. He also served on the Planning Board for 13 years as the mayor's designee.

Petoia said he was off the Planning Board "within 24 hours of the time Steve Acropolis [Republican Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis] took over.

He said he decided to speak out about the appointment to let residents know what happens in with "one-party rule" in town.

"Lots of times decisions aren't even made by public officials, and these guys just follow like puppets," Petoia said.

Petoia said Lacey did have managerial experience.

"Contrary to people saying he has no qualifications, I don't think that's true, in fairness to the guy," he said. "I talked to him for quite a while about desalinization. I was quite surprised at how much he knew about the process. That impressed me. Is he the best qualified? That's the crux of the matter. I don't know."