MUA top job tailored for freeholder, two say Lacey's contract gives him 10 hours a week for non-MUA business BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer The ad for a new Brick Township MUA executive director appears to have been custom made for Republican Freeholder James F. Lacey, said two officials who want to know how he got the job. COURTESY OF BRICK TOWNSHIP MUA A page from the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority Web site lays out the chain of command and responsibilities of top officials. "The word on the street a year before it happened was that Lacey was going to get this job," former Democratic Mayor Daniel F. Newman said. "When the Republicans won the election in Brick, it became more apparent that Lacey was going to get the job. The fix was in." Newman and A. Gregory Auriemma, who chairs the Ocean County chapter of the Sierra Club, filed separate, independent Open Public Records Act requests for details leading up to Lacey's hiring and his qualifications for the top job at the MUA. The ad, which ran earlier this year in the Asbury Park Press, read as follows: "Executive Director: Municipal Utilities Authority seeks highly qualified individual to oversee general overall supervision and direction of the Authority. Ideal candidate should possess solid business management experience and/ or college degree in disciplines related to the business of the Authority. Excellent benefits package. Interested applicants should forward their resume and salary requirements to Patrick L. Bottazzi, Chairman, BTMUA…" The ad should have asked for applicants with experience in running a water and sewer utility for over 100,000 people, Auriemma said. "There was nothing in there," he said. "I'm not sure who created it, but it did not fully address the interests of the people of Brick, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach and Howell who use the water supply." Bottazzi and Lacey previously refused requests to release Lacey's qualifications for the position. MUA officials also declined to release the names and résumés of any other applicants for the job. So Newman and Auriemma filed OPRA requests independently of each other. The authority recently released Lacey's résumé, the job advertisement and the minutes of the closed session where the MUA commissioners voted on his contract. Lacey's work history released His résumé states that he is 53, graduated from Point Pleasant Beach High School, Ocean County College with an associate degree in business administration and Monmouth University with a bachelor's degree in business administration and political science. He holds a public works manager certification from Rutgers University. The résumé does not list any experience in running a water and sewer utility. Lacey was a sales manager for the Trans Bearing Co. Inc. in Wall Township from 1973 to 1988. He was president and chief of Mago Company Inc., Middletown, from July 1988 to June 1994. In July 1994, Lacey was given a job with the state Department of Environmental Protection as a "representative for the Commissioner's Office to all freeholders, county administrators, engineers and upper management for 20 of 21 counties in New Jersey," according to the résumé. Lacey later served as business administrator in Point Pleasant Beach from March 2002 to February 2005. He then moved onto to serve as administrator in Beachwood, a position that was created just before he was hired. Beachwood Democratic Mayor Ronald Jones, who elected in November, has since moved to abolish the administrator position, which he has said is unneeded. Newman said the MUAshould have at least gone through "the motions of doing it right." "That's a tailor-made job description for Jim Lacey," he said. The MUA, through authority attorney Jerry Dasti, declined to release the names of any of the other applicants, which makes it difficult to determine if Lacey was the most qualified, Auriemma said. "Without having the names released, we don't have the opportunity to even ask them if they want their résumés put in the light of the public," he said. "We hardly find that in the interest of full public disclosure." The MUA also released the minutes of the closed session where the selection of the new executive director was discussed. "The commissioners discussed the various resumes submitted for the position of executive director," the minutes state. "The commissioners agreed with the recommendations of the personnel committee that James Lacey presented the best credentials to be appointed to that position. Therefore, by straw poll of the commissioners, Mr. Lacey was the unanimous choice as executive director, at a salary of $135,000 per year." The commissioners also approved a $20,000 bonus for Stephen T. Specht, who served as actingMUAexecutive director for almost a year. They then voted to create the position of deputy executive director and appointed Specht to the position, for an additional $5,000. Bottazzi said earlier this year that Specht was not interested in the executive director position. Specht declined to comment earlier this year. Specht, a licensed professional engineer, serves as director of engineering/operations, customer service installations, sewer collection and water distribution issues, according to the MUA's Web site. Lacey's responsibilities are "general questions about the authority," theWeb site states. Contract allows for freeholder work Some in town have questioned how Lacey will fulfill hisMUAduties onWednesdays when he attendsmeetings of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders in Toms River at 4 p.m. His contract contains stipulations that allow him to do so. Lacey is an elected freeholder… "and shall continue to serve the people of Ocean County in that elected position, which shall require that Lacey spend on average at least 10 hours per week, during normal working hours, to be unavailable to perform his responsibilities as executive director," the contract states. The contract further states that Lacey's outside work will not "hinder" himfromperforming his duties as executive director. "It looks like a political appointment and I think the people of Brick and the other people who use the water system deserve somethingmore than that,"Auriemma said. The Sierra Club plans to call on both MUA officials and Lacey to ask the other candidates to come forward and release the other applicants' names so they can be contacted to see if they want to make their résumés public, Auriemma said. "The Sierra Club has been dedicated to making certain the water quality in Brick is pristine," he said. "We have an obligation to make sure this is before the public. We are not done with this yet." Newman, who served as a state legislator in the 1970s, was one of the original sponsors of the state Sunshine Law. The MUA agendas do not detail what is included in the personnel resolutions that are voted on during the regular meetings. "If they are hiring you, or giving you a raise, that's not in there," he said. Newman said he plans to continue to investigate Lacey's hiring. "It's not all I want," he said. "I still want them to tell me when the interviews took place and where. If Mr. Bottazzi suggests they got the best candidate, who interviewed these people and where?