New, Part-Time Point Pleasant Borough Chief Financial Officer Will Continue Full-Time Mantoloking Job

Michelle A. Swisher says she will continue to work as Mantoloking's full-time chief financial officer while doing the same job part-time for Point Pleasant Borough.

The Point Pleasant Borough Council voted Tuesday night to give Swisher the part-time appointment.

"I think we need a full-time CFO, but under the circumstances, I say yes," said Councilman Chris Leitner, voting in favor of hiring Swisher part-time.

He was referring to the borough's bleak financial picture, which will be detailed in an accounting report expected to be finished soon.

The borough has not yet introduced a municipal budget, as it waits for the report to be completed.

Swisher, who is currently tax collector and chief financial officer for Mantoloking, will work 18 hours per week in Point Pleasant and be paid $45,000 per year, said Borough Administrator David Maffei after the meeting.

Swisher said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that she does not yet know exactly how she will apportion her time between full-time hours in Mantoloking and the 18 hours per week in Point Pleasant.

"That is yet to be determined," she said. "I really have to talk to the administrator."

Swisher said she has worked in the position in Mantoloking for eight years.

Councilmen Jack McHugh, Chris Goss and Leitner said in separate interviews on Wednesday that council members knew before hiring Swisher that she would continue full-time in Mantoloking.

"We feel strongly that she can do the job in 18 hours a week, maybe a little bit more in the beginning," McHugh said.

"Hiring her part-time saves about $60,000 per year in salary and benefits, since we are giving her no benefits," he said.

He said the borough would have preferred hiring a full-time CFO, but that officials are not comfortable doing that now since they still do not have a clear budget picture.

Goss had said just after the meeting that Swisher has worked in the public accounting field since 1983 and held her first CFO position in 1991.

The borough got applications from, and interviewed, seven potential job candidates, Maffei said.

Regarding the budget, Councilman Jack McHugh said last night that the borough does not yet have its full budget picture, but that it may be necessary for borough employees to take some furlough days.

"We don't know yet how many furlough days there might be," he said.

McHugh made his comments in response to a resident's question about when borough residents might be able to drop off brush at the local recycling center behind the Stop and Shop grocery store near the corner of Route 88 and Bridge Avenue again.

McHugh said that creates extra work for the public works employees and he didn't want to make a commitment for them to take on another task until the council knows when they will have to take unpaid days.

The extra work is created through a need for public works to transport brush from the local recycling center to a recycling center off Sally Ike Road in Brick, McHugh said. Point residents can either bring their brush to the Brick facility or put it out curbside for monthly pickups, he said.

Maffei and Mayor William Schroeder could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.