Monday, April 30, 2012
Margaret Nordstrom said to be under consideration for number two spot
They ought to rename the New Jersey Highlands Council the Morris County Freeholder Re-Employment Bureau. The latest rumor is that former freeholder Margaret Nordstrom of Long Valley is in line to become deputy director of the Highlands Council. That spot is open because Tom Borden resigned as a matter of conscience last month when the council ousted Eileen Swan as director in a political move. No one is confirming the rumor yet. Nordstrom did tell The Observer Tribune last month that she is looking for a job within, or with the help of, the administration of Gov. Chris Christie, who lives in Morris. Earlier this year, the state appellate court tossed Nordstrom off the freeholder board, reversing a superior court judge’s earlier order, …
Monday, April 23, 2012
By the way, there's a nice pension boost in it for Feyl, too.
The appointment of Gene Feyl as executive director of the New Jersey Highlands Council last Thursday accomplished several goals—most of them political, but with a nice personal perk for Feyl. It took Feyl out of contention for another term as a Morris County freeholder, allowing him to land safely—and cozily, with a $116,000 salary almost five times larger than he gets now—without having to worry about a messy primary fight with the conservative team opposing the incumbent Republicans in June. And talk about cozy! Were Feyl to lose a Republican primary fight in June and leave office at the end of the year, he would retire with a maximum annual pension of about $13,300, according to the Retirement Estimate calculation tool on the state …
Monday, March 19, 2012
Don't expect the new director to do any better at getting compensation for land owners.
You’re my hero. Now you’re fired. Does that make any sense? That’s what Highlands Council member Michael Francis of Hopatcong effectively said to the council’s director, Eileen Swan, last Thursday night. Bizarre as that was, at least some of those members who voted to fire Swan were honest in saying they had no problem with Swan’s work and that the move was, indeed, a political takeover by Gov. Chris Christie of the body that is supposed to be independent. This is the New Jersey definition of independent. Many parts of the meeting were surreal. Kurt Alstede, who for years sat at the end of the council table as its chief—often only—naysayer, sat off-center as vice chairman and watched as Bergen County Surrogate Michael Dressler took up his …
Monday, March 12, 2012
On Thursday, the New Jersey Highlands Council is slated to remove its executive director, at the behest of Gov. Christie.
An appeals panel last week reined in the governor’s power over the Council on Affordable Housing, saying New Jersey’s chief executive does not have broad control over independent authorities. Chris Christie may not have the right to reorganize an independent agency, but his influence is nevertheless as strong as ever over bodies like the New Jersey Highlands Council, where the governor is about to (indirectly) unseat the executive director. Eileen Swan has headed the council’s staff for almost five years, the longest term of its three directors. A former council member and member of the task force that originally recommended creating a preservation area in the North Jersey Highlands, Swan has worked diligently to enforce the state law …
Elena Chambous
6:09 pm on Monday, April 30, 2012
How about paying the people for their land instead of 6 figure salaries to people enforcing something that is illegal in the fact that it hasn't paid what was promised to the land owners and yet their hands are tied and they are still paying property taxes! more ›