After the Closed Session concluded at Tuesday May 27th's Council Meeting, a Resolution was introduced to extend the contract with NJ Community Solutions. Council President Ron Skirkanish made the motion to introduce Resolution #2025-134.

It was passed unanimously by Council, however, the Resolution was not read into the record, and the details of the Resolution were not immediately made available. ManvilleToday submitted an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request to obtain a copy of the Resolution.

The agreement with NJ Community Solutions has been modified for a 4th time. The payment to the consulting firm will increase to a total not to exceed $90,000, and NJ Community Solutions will continue to provide a Clerk. The term is increased for up to an additional 4 weeks at an estimated 42 hours per week.

As covered in our prior reporting, the original contract amount was $32,000 for Administrator search services. (Resolution #2025-62) The amount was raised to $48,000 and the Clerk portion was added after former Borough Clerk William Bray resigned. (Resolution #2025-70)

The term and payment was modified a third time to $76,000 via Resolution #2025-119, and again this past Tuesday to $90,000. (#2025-134).

This will be a payment increase of $58,000 from original Resolution #2025-62.

It appears Council wants to hire a permanent Administrator as soon as possible, per Council President Skirkanish's committee report at last Tuesday's meeting. It is curious what seems to be taking so long to hire someone permanently.