Former Princeton Municipal Administrator Bob Bruschi has been appointed to fill in as the interim administrator while the search is on for a replacement for Municipal Administrator Marc Dashield, who is retiring this month.
Bruschi, who was named to serve as the interim municipal administrator at the Princeton Council’s March 8 meeting, will begin work March 17. He will serve until a permanent municipal administrator is hired.
Bruschi will work 25 hours per week and will be paid $125 per hour. It is expected that he will serve in the interim municipal administrator post for about six to eight weeks.
Bruschi, who grew up in Princeton, served as the Princeton Borough administrator from 1999 to 2013, when the former Princeton Borough and the former Princeton Township consolidated. He stayed on for one more year as the municipal administrator for the new town, retiring in 2014.
Dashield took over as the administrator after Bruschi’s retirement. He has worked for the Municipality of Princeton since 2014. He announced his retirement late last year.
Dashield is capping a 27-year career in public service, beginning with a stint in the U.S. military and then in municipal government. He began his career in municipal government in Franklin Township, where he was, by turns, the township’s municipal clerk, the finance director and the assistant township manager.
Dashield was the city administrator for the City of Plainfield and then executive assistant for the City of Elizabeth. He moved on to become the township manager and chief operating officer in Montclair. He took the job of municipal administrator in Princeton.
In related news, Jersey Professional Management has been retained by the Princeton Council to find a new municipal administrator.
The Cranford-based consultant, which was hired by the Princeton Council in December 2020, is being paid $17,500 to conduct the search to replace Dashield.
Jersey Professional Management has helped more than 300 towns, 50-plus school boards and numerous counties as management consultants, recruiters, temporary employees and share services specialists.