City Council appointed an interim city administrator during its annual reorganization meeting Wednesday night.
Cherron Rountree ended her five-year tenure as city administrator on Dec. 31. Mayor Raymond Giacobbe, Jr., who officially was sworn in to a four-year term at Wednesday’s meeting, said the city and Rountree “mutually decided to move in different directions.”
Robert Landolfi will act as interim city administrator until further notice. He also will “be an integral part of the team who will determine the successor to the position,” the mayor said via email.
City Council approved a resolution (AR-06-19) authorizing a contract not to exceed $70,000 with Landolfi & Associates Government Solutions Corporation. The resolution is nearly identical — except for the dollar amount — to one that was adopted last summer. Landolfi originally was hired in August as a consultant on a $30,000 contract related to “analyzing operations of the city and leading the Rahway 2030 Initiative.”
Wednesday’s resolution passed by a vote of 8-0, with one member absent (Fifth Ward Councilwoman Jennifer Wenson Maier), according to City Clerk Rayna Harris. Wenson Maier led an effort to table the consulting contract with Landolfi in August, seeking more information. The $30,000 contract was approved the following week.
Here’s a copy of the five-month contract approved in the summer and a copy of the proposal submitted to the city.
Rountree was appointed city administrator in November 2013 under Mayor Samson Steinman and later appointed deputy redevelopment director in 2016. Rountree earned $135,791 annually, according to the Asbury Park Press Data Universe of public employee salaries. Landolfi earned $198,202 in Woodbridge, according to the Data Universe, before retiring at the end of 2017. He’s also listed as a non-legislative member of a group called Path To Progress NJ, a fiscal policy working group.
Giacobbe was elected to a full four-year term in November, after being appointed interim mayor a year ago following Steinman’s resignation in December 2017.
The city administrator post technically is appointed on an annual basis and typically changes with a change in administration, or party in power. Former City Administrator Peter Pelissier served for many years under Mayor James Kennedy, as both city administrator and redevelopment director. He continued to hold both posts after Rick Proctor succeeded Kennedy as mayor in 2011 but eventually stepped down in late 2012 as administrator, remaining as redevelopment director into 2014.
