Search for new public works director gets under way
Councilman says he has no interest in director job
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Brick Township officials are looking for a new public works director to take over the roughly 125-employee department when current supervisor Robert Russo retires.

"Bob has done a great job for the period of time he has been there," Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said. "But we need to take the next step when it comes to that department.We have some great guys that work there. We just need to take the next step."

The township has already advertised for the position, the mayor said.

"We don't know what we are going to do," Acropolis said. "We may make the change, we may not."

Russo is a 32-year township employee. He was appointed as public works director after former DPW director John H. Nydam was suspended in 2004 and later pleaded guilty to official misconduct and theft charges. Nydam was sentenced to five years' probation in February, after his substantial cooperation in the corruption investigation involving former longtime Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli.

"Over the past couple of years, no one would argue with the fact that the public works department has been the epicenter of the investigation process in Brick," Acropolis said.

Russo was transferred from the recreation department when he became public works director.

Acropolis said he expects Russo will retire "at some point down the road."

"He could retire in July, October - we don't know," he said. "Bob has taken the department about as far as he can go. Let's face it. He's been here 32 years. He's done a good job."

The next director will not necessarily have to have experience in public works management or have a public works director certification, although that would be preferable, Acropolis said.

"I'm looking for a manager," he said. "Someone that has good administrative skills, experience in managing people in an efficient manner, takes into account his employees as well as the management side of business and is not afraid to look outside the box when it comes to getting things done."

"The guy that gets hired doesn't need to know how to pave roads," Acropolis added. "That's not what his job is going to be."

The public works department has improved since Russo took over, both in customer service and employee morale, the mayor said.

"They have started the improvement I've asked to see," Acropolis said. "Our public works guys are becoming better at public service. I don't think the public works employees were really where we had the problem. It's a management issue. The former public works director [Nydam] was not a guy out there actually working."

Matthews: rumors untrue

Councilman Anthony Matthews said he has no interest in the public works director position, despite rumors in town over the past several weeks that he was one of several being considered.

"No, I have no intention of being a public works director," he said. "I don't have the knowledge, background or expertise to do that. There's no truth whatsoever I would be interested in the public works director job."

The job was never offered to him, Matthews said.

"I have no intention of applying for it," he said.

Acropolis said "99 percent" of public works employees are good at what they do.

"Guys will only do what they are told to do, and they will react to what happens at the top," he said. "Do I think they need more leadership or direction? Yes, but that's not their fault," he said.

Russo has provided some of that direction, Acropolis said.

"He took over a situation that was very bad," the mayor said. "Morale was very bad. He turned the department around and took it as far as he possibly could take it."

Scarpelli is now serving an 18- month sentence in federal prison in Fort Dix on corruption charges. He resigned in December 2006 for what he said were "personal reasons." One month later, the former mayor pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer.