John McManus has left the City Council after 23 years, but says he would return some day if he saw a need and he had the time.
By: Mae Rhine
LAMBERTVILLE Former City Councilman John McManus acknowledges, with a rueful smile, that he will go down in history as the one mayor who probably introduced the highest tax increase in the city’s history.
That was during the year he had to step in as acting mayor for former Mayor Mary Sheridan, who walked off the job in January 1988 with no explanation or contact with her fellow council members.
It is the one thing that stands out to him during his 23 years of service.
He really wasn’t interested in running for public office. But, in 1982, he ended up running for City Council almost by proxy.
His wife, Melanie, had made an unsuccessful bid a few years earlier for the former three-person City Commission.
When the city approved going to a five-member council under the Faulkner Act, Mrs. McManus was approached by former Commissioner Philip Pittore.
"He said to Melanie, ‘The government’s changing. It’s out with the old and in with the new,’" Mr. McManus recalled. "’Are you interested in running?’"
Mrs. McManus declined.
At that point, Mr. Pittore turned to her husband and said, "How about you?"
Mr. McManus remembered, "I just stood there."
The rest is history.
Mr. McManus ended his 23-year stint officially Sunday as the City Council held its reorganization meeting and acknowledged his many years of service and dedication.
Mr. McManus withdrew from the election in September, citing increased responsibilities from his job as manager for retail business groups at Amerada Hess Corp. in Woodbridge, N.J. New Councilman Ronald Pittore, a lawyer and son of Philip Pittore, who was a former mayor as well, won election to his seat.
When Mr. McManus decided to run in 1982, he said he thought, "It’s a good thing to do, kind of like volunteering."
With a laugh, he added, "Little did I know! You could fill whole volumes of what I didn’t know about local government."
Come Jan. 1, 1983, Mr. McManus was sworn in along with Mayor Sheridan, who had been the city clerk for many years, and new council members James Rosso, Alan Brewster and Kenneth Harms.
To ensure all members would not be running for re-election the same year, Mr. Rosso and Mr. Brewster drew one-year terms and Mr. McManus and Mr. Harms, two-year terms.
Miss Sheridan drew the only full three-year term as the first elected mayor.
Mr. McManus said during that first year, he and Mr. Harms "were in awe" of Mr. Brewster who "was the most qualified with a ton of experience."
But "I learned real fast," he said with a grin. "It was an all-new council who didn’t know what was going on."
Mr. McManus has served on the council since then, stepping down for that year to take over as acting mayor when Miss Sheridan walked off the job.
Before that, Mayor Sheridan ruled with an iron fist. Many things that should have been brought before the council for decisions were tucked away as Miss Sheridan did the payroll, paid the bills, prepared the budget herself and acted in a number of other capacities, such as welfare director, without the scrutiny of the rest of the council.
Mr. McManus also recalled the city had two major propositions before it. One was a proposal to buy the water company, now United Water-Lambertville. Miss Sheridan was opposed as was Mr. Rosso.
That didn’t come up for a vote as Miss Sheridan also controlled the agenda. When Mr. Brewster was defeated the following year by Edward Nalence, who was recruited by Miss Sheridan, Mr. McManus and Mr. Harms realized they didn’t have enough votes left to approve buying the company.
Then the city was poised to take over Bridge Street, a state highway.
"The state didn’t want it," Mr. McManus recalled. "It wanted to turn it over to us."
Again, he was for taking over the street, and Miss Sheridan was opposed.
"It seemed like we’d have more control" (over the street), he said.
Again, the proposal was killed through inattention.
Things went on that way until January 1988 when Miss Sheridan disappeared, leaving things in disarray. Bills were waiting to be paid as well as employees.
Mr. McManus got a call from then-city attorney Philip Faherty Sr., who said Mr. McManus needed to take over as council president.
"He said, ‘Here’s what you need to do,’" Mr. McManus said. "You need to pay people; pay bills."
Mr. McManus said former City Clerk Dorothy Bolmer "was not up to" the task of helping him.
He relied on Deputy Clerk Barbara Strouse to get him through the mountains of paperwork.
"It was up to Barbara and I to figure things out," he said.
When asked were there other problems, he said, "Oh, my God, yes. There were other problems."
One of these things was the state required an encumbrance system for the budget, something Miss Sheridan refused to be bothered with.
"The budget was a deep dark secret, usually presented on the deadline for adoption" when Miss Sheridan was mayor, he recalled.
Mr. Rosso, Mr. Pittore and Miss Sheridan officially were members of the Finance Committee, but "in name only," he said.
"There were so many things to figure out" that year, including the way "Mary funded or didn’t fund certain activities."
At no time, he stressed, however, were there any missing or use of illegal funds. Mr. McManus believes to this day, Miss Sheridan had the welfare of the city in mind at all times.
Several months after Miss Sheridan walked off the job, Mr. McManus said he "camped out" at her house to get in touch with her as she was not answering calls or the door.
He finally caught up with her and found out something he said has never been revealed until now: Miss Sheridan had had a stroke.
"I could see it," he said. "Her speech was not great."
He told her the city really needed the books, and Miss Sheridan went with him to the former City Hall on Bridge Street where she kept an office to turn over city records.
"She did not look good at all, really," he said. "I felt bad."
Miss Sheridan claimed publicly, however, she could not deal with the demands of the office.
During that year was when Mr. McManus introduced "the largest budget increase in history," he said.
He added, "It was huge."
He remembers having a hearing on the budget, with graphs and charts, trying to explain to residents why their taxes were going up so much.
"No one wanted to hear it," he said. "But it is what it is. We had so much to do just to be legal. There was a huge backlog of stuff that needed to be dealt with."
Some of those things were police expenses and infrastructure.
"She was loath to spend any money on that, roads," he explained.
Another problem was the lack of an administrative code, which basically spelled out the powers of all officials.
"That was a huge battle," he said, recalling Miss Sheridan "didn’t want that."
She felt there was no need, he said.
Getting the city back on track was a long hard struggle, he said.
"I worked my ass off," he said with another grin.
Once that trying year was over, Mr. McManus stepped back as a member of the council, paving the way for Councilman Frank Fuzo to win his first and only three-year term as mayor. He was defeated in 1992 by current Mayor David Del Vecchio, who has been in office ever since.
Another big step was hiring Mary Elizabeth Sheppard as city clerk. Miss Sheppard remained clerk until Lori Buckelew was hired last year.
Among his accomplishments since then were his part in the city getting sewers on Connaught Hill in 1989 and an historic preservation ordinance.
Despite "my record as a tax raiser," he said, he pushed for that ordinance because "that was something the town needed."
And, since that first year, "expenses have been pretty flat" with little or no tax increases.
Life is better in Lambertville more than 20 years later, primarily, because of the "openness of government," he said.
"Frank did it, I did it, Dave does it," he added. "And municipal services are better."
The town has changed a lot in the past 20 years, Mr. McManus said. When he moved there in 1974, it basically was a small blue-collar town.
Property values began to rise as a reflection of the people who moved in, he said.
"It got gentrified," he said. "The town has transformed immensely."
He pointed to his own gain as a property owner in Lambertville. He purchased his house for $75,000 and just sold it last year for $680,000.
These changes necessitated the changes the city itself went through, he said.
"Those that spend that kind of money on a house don’t want to hear the cops go off duty at 10, 11," he said. "They don’t want to hear their trash won’t be picked up."
There have been a few difficult times during Mr. McManus’ years on the council. The one that stands out in his mind were personnel issues with police.
Former Chief Jack Venettone Sr. negotiated a buyout with the council after a city-directed report cited missing evidence and called his management of the department "abysmal."
He also felt badly about the loss of former Lt. David Hendricks, who was convicted of assaulting a prisoner, John Stout.
He also recalled "Notegate" when two former officers, Richard Weasner and Michael O’Rourke, broke into City Hall and took minutes by Miss Sheppard of executive sessions of the council, pertaining to the Police Department. Mr. Weasner was fired, and Mr. O’Rourke received a lesser disciplinary charge.
But in retrospect, Mr. McManus, the father of three children, Erin Keyes, 34, Tori McManus, 28, and Brian, 27, and grandfather to Mrs. Keyes’ two children, has enjoyed his reign on the council.
And he doesn’t rule out a return as he plans to remain in Lambertville.
"I do enjoy it," he said. "I’ve always enjoyed it. I’d return, mostly if I saw a need and if I had the time."