Council Members Defend New Town Manager

Scotch Plains council members Colleen Gialanella and Bo Vastine are defending the hire of new town manager Jerry Giaimis in the wake of concerns expressed by Mayor Kevin Glover. 

Glover told Patch he voted no on hiring Giaimis because he believed Giaimis lacked experience and because he had read a blog post alleging Giaimis was involved with a political action committee that skirted campaign finance laws. 

Giaimis, 35, comes to Scotch Plains from Vernon where he was the town manager/administrator. Before his three years in Vernon, Giaimis was the assistant township manager in Randolph. The council voted 4 to 1 to hire Giaimis at a salary of $120,000 in a June 27 meeting. Read more about Giaimis in our story: Scotch Plains Hires Jerry Giaimis as Town Manager)

"Why I voted no is because I didn’t believe he had enough experience, in my opinion, to manage the municipality," Glover told Patch. "Totaling his previous employment in Randolph and Vernon, he has approximately five years of experience. I just think that after the issue that we’ve gone through with the loss of Henry Underhill, I was hoping to have someone that would have had more experience. And having gone on the Internet and searched him, I saw some things that gave me pause."

In the comments section of our story, Deputy Mayor Colleen Gialanella addressed the mayor's allusion to the ConservativeNewJersey.com post.

"While I am sure that we can all agree the Internet is an amazing tool, any middle school student would know that the ease in which information can be posted by anyone, for any reason, is cause for concern," writes Gialanella. "Without hesitation, Mr. Giaimis informed the Council as to the availability of this information and cautioned us on the motivation of its author. He went on to fully and appropriately address those areas specific to his personal life."

For his part, Giaimis told Patch "the majority of the article is untrue and highly misleading" and that the author was politically motivated. 

Gialanella also defended Giaimis's ability to do the job. 

"Mr. Giaimis comes to us highly recommended," she writes. "I have no doubt that Mr. Giaimis has the intellect, commitment, and energy to do great things for Scotch Plains. It is up to us to provide him the resources to do so. Distractions such as this are unproductive and unnecessary and stand only to undermine the authority that Mr. Giaimis will need as he works to manage our Township."

Councilman Bo Vastine also took issue with the mayor's comments.

"We need someone like Mr. Giaimis to bring stability and true leadership back to our town," wrote Vastine. "After all, he was the sixth manager hired in Vernon in less than a year…and has managed to remain there for the past three years because he was able to restore stability. ... For Kevin to take the step of trying to poison the well before Mr. Giaimis even starts here in Scotch Plains is not only divisive, but in my opinion also shows the petty nature of his character."

Despite the drama, Giaimis is eager to get to work, telling Patch, "I'm just happy the overwhelming majority recognizes me as the top choice for the position."  

He will officially start the job on July 17. The public is invited to attend a "meet and greet" coffee with Giaimis on Thursday, July 18 in conference room 202 of the municipal building at 6:30 p.m.