Spring Lake Heights Bids Goodbye to CFO Lapp

Borough Chief Financial Officer Colleen Lapp is moving on to greener pastures.

More specifically, Lapp is leaving her $70,000 per year position in the borough effective Aug. 26 for what has been described as a higher paying CFO job in the Borough of Red Bank. She has also worked with the borough's bond counsel.

In a bittersweet moment, the governing body accepted Lapp’s resignation on Monday night. Since coming on board in 2007, Lapp has prepared the borough’s annual budget and overseen the day-to-day financial operations including payroll.

“She’s done a wonderful job here,” Mayor Frances Enright said. “We’re
accepting her resignation with regret.”

Although salaries for non-union employees have been frozen for the
last two consecutive years, borough officials have twice attempted to raise Lapp’s salary to keep her in town according to Councilwoman Patty Cindea, who chairs the governing body’s finance committee.

Spring Lake Heights' loss is Red Bank’s gain, Cindea said.

“She is terrific and I’m sorry to see her go,” Cindea said. “She’s going to a town twice our size where they can pay her more.”

Lapp's resignation comes less than two months after the last municipal clerk, Richard Kachman left for a higher paying job in Sea Bright.

However, Cindea dismissed word on the street that such recent turnover shows that borough employees are dissatisfied with their jobs.

“I don’t think [employees] leaving is a reflection on our town,” she said.

No plans have been announced as to when interviews will be held for
candidates to replace Lapp.

The freeze on employee salaries applies to all borough employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements. Only the police and public works departments have union contracts.