BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer
KEYPORT – The new borough administrator is also the borough’s first-ever engineering director.
Peter Valesi, Howell, will earn a salary of $119,000, according to Councilman Robert Bergen.
“We’ll be splitting that salary approximately $65,000 towards administrator and $54,000 towards his duties as director of engineering,” Bergen said.
The new combined position allows the borough to have an “in-house professional licensed municipal engineer,” Bergen said Friday.
Don Norbut will stay on as the official borough engineer, Bergen said, but his services will not be utilized as much as they are now.
“He’ll retain the title of borough engineer but having a licensed engineer in-house, we’ll be able to reduce our general engineering costs, estimated between $60,000 and $80,000 a year,” Bergen said.
Norbut must retain his role, Bergen said, because state law requires it.
As for Valesi, “He’s got a lot of familiarity with Keyport,” Bergen said.
Currently employed at Hatch, Mott & MacDonald, an engineering consulting firm, Valesi has been the borough’s water and sewer consultant for the past two years. Valesi has worked for the consulting firm for a total of 10 years, and has experience procuring public contracts and other engineering documents for the borough.
“The [other] inner-workings of the borough is something I will grow into,” Valesi said during a phone interview.
The 36-year-old Hazlet native is a graduate of Rutgers University with a major in civil and environmental engineering. He views his new role as “one of action from the council.”
“It empowers the council to go in the direction they want to go,” he said.
The borough administrator role differs from most borough jobs in that the employee “serves at the pleasure of the council.”
“But that’s how an administrator has to live,” he said jokingly.
Valesi will begin working for the borough on Sept. 25.
His tenure follows the controversial hiring and subsequent resignation of Thomas Antonucci, who served less than one year in the job. Prior to Antonucci, David Palamara was hired and fired after only one year on the job.
Valesi said he is “painfully aware” of the fate of the borough’s last two administrators but is hopeful he can break the cycle.
“I’m looking forward to staying 15 to 20 years if they’ll have me,” he said.
One good sign, the council voted unanimously to hire Valesi, meaning all members were in agreement over his hire.
“The questions they asked me were detailed and well thought out,” he said.
Valesi said he plans to meet with each member of the council prior to his starting date. In doing so, he hopes to gain perspective on the members’ long- and short-term goals and other areas of interest.
Although naming a list of personal goals for the jobs was most likely premature, Valesi said he is not short on inspiration.
“I have a lot of ideas that I will bring to the table and discuss with them,” Valesi said.