Terms of the settlement include paying Karen Waldron $14,000, $4,000 of which will be provided by a borough insurance carrier. The borough will pay the rest.
By John Tredrea
Pennington Borough and its former clerk/administrator, Karen Waldron, have agreed to settle their differences out of court.
Borough Council voted unanimously not to reappoint Ms. Waldron to her positions in September 2003. At that time, Mayor Jim Loper and council members would not say why Ms. Waldron was let go. She began working in Pennington in October 1999.
Under a resolution approved unanimously by council Monday night, terms of the settlement include paying Ms. Waldron $14,000, $4,000 of which will be provided by a borough insurance carrier, the Mid-Jersey Municipal Joint Insurance Carrier. The borough will pay the rest.
The resolution states that "the borough and Ms. Waldron wish to resolve and settle all the disputes between them without the burden and expense incident to litigation and without admission of wrongdoing on the part of anyone."
Mayor Loper said the cost to the borough could have been much higher than that called for by the settlement agreement if the matter had gone to court.
Councilman Weed Tucker agreed, nothing that even if the borough won in court, the cost of fighting the case might have proven to be substantially higher than the amount stipulated by the settlement agreement.
Councilman David Garber agreed, adding that the time and energy of borough officials also would have been drained during a court proceeding.
IN OTHER BUSINESS Monday night, Mayor Loper appointed Chris Murphy to a five-year term on the borough’s Economic Development Committee. That term ends Dec. 31, 2009.
In addition, council approved a no-bid professional services agreement with borough attorney Walter Bliss, who was reappointed for 2005. He will be paid $150 per hour.
Also, council accepted the resignation of Steve Picco as the borough’s representative to the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority.

