Official will work for both Manville and Raritan
By:Eric Schwarz
The borough has a new tax assessor who will take over the job from a man who has been doing the job part time since late last year.
Catherine Ann Gantner of Raritan will serve as assessor in Manville and Raritan until Aug. 12, 2001, to complete the four-year term of Anthony Di Rado.
The Borough Council on Monday unanimously voted to hire Ms. Gantner.
Ms. Ganter earned her New Jersey certificate as a tax assessor this year. She has worked in the Branchburg Tax Assessor’s Office since 1995 and two months ago was promoted to assistant to the assessor.
Mr. Di Rado in November left the full-time position, split between the two boroughs, for a full-time assessor’s job in Bridgewater. He has been working part time in the two boroughs since then.
The borough had been looking since January for a new assessor.
Ms. Gantner, who grew up in Manville, applied July 14. She will earn $42,000 plus benefits. The two boroughs will split the cost.
Mr. Di Rado had replaced William Merdinger, whom Manville laid off in 1997 before the two boroughs merged their assessors offices.
Mr. Merdinger sued Manville claiming the dismissal was in bad faith. He lost his lawsuit four months ago.
However, state Superior Court Judge Victor Ashrafi also found that Manville violated the Open Public Meetings Act by discussing the assessor’s position in a closed-door meeting and by not keeping proper minutes of the meeting.