By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton health officer Jeffrey C. Grosser was promoted to be the assistant town administrator in a move that fills one vacancy and creates a new one, with the town needing to find a leader for its health department.
Mr. Grosser, who has worked for Princeton since 2014, was tabbed by town administrator Marc D. Dashield to fill the job left vacant when Kathy Monzo resigned to take a job in North Brunswick earlier this year. He will continue to serve as health officer until a replacement is hired, likely in the first part of 2017.
At the board of health meeting Tuesday, Mr. Grosser told board members that he had been promoted last week and that toward the end of December, he would be moving into the Witherspoon Hall municipal building. At the moment, he works out of Monument Hall, the former Borough Hall building.
He does not intend to stop being the health officer right away, however.
“I will be transitioning out of this position over the course of the next four to five months,” he told the board.
In terms of finding his replacement, the town intends to start looking for job candidates in mid- to late December, with an eye toward hiring someone in March or April, he said.
He officially begins his new role in January, at a salary of $104,000. But it was not clear if Mr. Grosser would serve as second-in-command in the municipal government after Mr. Dashield. Mr. Grosser said the duties of the job are “still kind of forming” but would have a lot of goal-setting and planning for the governing body.
“I’m excited for his promotion and look forward to continuing to work with him in ensuring we are providing high quality services to our residents in a efficient and effective manner,” Mayor Liz Lempert said in a statement Wednesday.
Mr. Grosser, who turns 33 on Saturday, is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University in public health; he has spent his professional career in that field. In taking on this new role, he will work in the central administration of the town.
“It was an extremely difficult decision not only applying for the position but also going through the process. But what I identified was the fact that this is going to give me the opportunity to really provide leadership amongst a larger subset of departments.” he said. “It’s going to be truly difficult leaving here.”
“Who knows what’s going to happen down the road, in terms of the municipality and organization and all that,” Mr. Grosser said later in the meeting. “So I’m hopeful for the new opportunity, but I don’t want to say goodbye, because I really don’t think it’s going to be a goodbye, I ‘m hoping I’ll be back at some point. But who knows how.”
