Spring Lake Heights’ New Borough Clerk Starts April 4

The newly hired municipal clerk will likely be a sight for sore eyes when he starts working in borough hall early next month.

Richard Kachman, who will be leaving his longtime post as municipal administrator in Plumstead Township, Ocean County, will come on board as the permanent, full-time borough clerk effective April 4.  He will take over from Acting Borough Clerk Janine Gillis, who has been working in that capacity for three months while still performing the duties of her regular job as deputy borough clerk.

Gillis will then be able to focus solely on the deputy clerk’s job according to Councilwoman Sara King, who co-chairs the council’s personnel committee along with Councilwoman Patty Cindea.

Kachman was chosen out of 12 applicants, a field that the committee eventually narrowed to four candidates, Cindea explained. Out of those four, he was the only one holding the qualifications, certifications, and education sought by the committee.

“Mr. Kachman was selected because he was the most qualified and very impressive in his interview,” Cindea told Patch.

Kachman’s $50,000 annual salary is designated as a line item in the proposed calendar year 2011 municipal budget that was introduced at the March 14 council meeting. He will also receive full-time benefits and a pension which could add about $20,000 to his total compensation package, King explained.

That package is substantially less than the $90,000 salary that the borough would have paid to its previous clerk, who was not re-appointed this past January as a cost-cutting measure, King pointed out.

Kachman was hired by a 4-2 council vote with Councilmen John P. Brennan, Jr. and Thomas Vorbach dissenting. During discussion prior to the vote, Brennan and Vorbach argued against hiring a new borough clerk at all this calendar year.

Instead, Brennan and Vorbach argued that the money designated for Kachman’s salary should be re-directed towards the town’s capital improvements in 2011.

In the meantime, Gillis could continue as acting borough clerk, which satisfies state statutes, Brennan said.

However, King countered that the duties of a borough clerk and deputy clerk differ and that Gillis must be allowed to work solely in the latter position. Also, because Gillis expects to go out of state on a personal matter soon, the need for a new clerk is immediate.

“We can’t put it off any longer. We’ve already put it off for 90 days,” King said. “I feel there is an urgency here.”

 “We’re moving in the right direction, and we’re saving money,” she added.

A certified borough clerk, Kachman has held his administrator post in Plumstead for over ten years, Cindea noted.