HOWELL – The Township Council has hired Joe Clark as Howell’s new director of law.
Almost a decade ago, Howell’s elected representatives decided to change from a longstanding system which saw outside counsel retained to serve the municipal government to an in-house position of director of law.
McKenna (Kingdon) Torcivia was hired as Howell’s first director of law in January 2009 and held that position until she left the municipality in August 2017.
Clark is the second full-time counsel retained by the township. He was named to the position on Nov. 21.
Clark’s undergraduate studies took place at the University of Michigan. He attended law school at Rutgers University, Camden. After graduating from law school, he clerked for two chancery judges in Trenton. He has since worked for several firms with a focus on municipal law litigation.
“I love it, I love it. I have done some litigation for Howell in the past so I have an idea of some of the people and some of the issues and I am really looking forward to coming in-house and helping out here,” he said.
The annual salary for the director of law is $130,000.
Clark’s hiring came less than a month after the council hired Brian Geoghegan as Howell’s new township manager.
“Everybody has been great so far, it is nice to have a full staff. In small towns the administrator is involved in every aspect, here (in a larger town), you have the luxury of having competent department heads who can deal with their own issues, so it is good,” Geoghegan said.