By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Twelve people had applied as of Monday afternoon to become the next administrator of Princeton, the top employee in municipal government.
Monday was the application deadline for job seekers, in what was advertised as a regional search for candidates.
Reagan Burkholder, the consultant helping officials with the search, cited confidentiality reasons for not disclosing the names of the 12 people. He said Monday the process is "totally confidential."
The Princeton Council, which will review all the applications, is expected to winnow the field to the semi-finalists this month. Mr. Burkholder said that would happen in closed session July 28, with no more than half a dozen candidates making it to the second stage.
"And so we’ll be reviewing the applications then and deciding who we want to bring back in for interviews," Mayor Liz Lempert said at her press conference Monday. "In order for us to have a professional, fair process, that I think council has to be given the space to have these conversations both with candidates and amongst ourselves like we would with any other personnel decision and to do that with confidentiality."
Officials want to select someone by the end of September to replace current Administrator Robert W. Bruschi, due to retire this year. Mr. Bruschi’s successor is supposed to start Oct. 27, based on the timeline officials are using.
"We want to make sure that there’s a smooth transition, and that’s been our intention all along," Mayor Lempert said.
Officials had talked of wanting to do a regional search to find job candidates, even though current Deputy Administrator Katharine Monzo has been seen as the front-runner. Councilman Lance Liverman said in a recent interview that he was "praying" she applied.
Ms. Monzo previously worked for Princeton Township as chief financial officer and then in 2012 as interim administrator. She declined to comment when asked Monday if she had applied.
But on Monday, one councilwoman dismissed the suggestion that the job search was a formality toward Ms. Monzo being selected. Councilwoman Jo S. Butler said being an in-house candidate is a "double-edged sword," in that officials know someone’s strengths as well as weaknesses.
"I know how these searches go. Anything can happen here," said Ms. Butler, a professional headhunter who looks for administrators for private schools.
"It’s going to be totally fair," said Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller. "Not everyone has made up their mind."
The municipal administrator is in charge of the overall day-to-day operations of the town. By ordinance, the town has a residency requirement for the job, although officials have indicated they would waive it.
Officials have raised the possibility Mr. Bruschi might leave early, before the end of the year. He was out of the office Monday.
