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| On Monday night, Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, right, called David R. Troast the "right candidate," and indicated the full City Council will name him city manager at tonight's meeting. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
The Hackensack City Council tonight is expected to name David R. Troast of Hawthorne as city manager.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday night, Mayor John Labrosse and Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino spoke positively about Troast's experience, education and qualifications for the key city job.
Labrosse, who called Troast the "right candidate," indicated the former Sparta official will get the nod at tonight's City Council meeting.
Background
Troast, 54, is a redevelopment planner who was township manager in Sparta (Sussex County) until a year ago, and before that headed the rural township's Department of Community Development and Services.
Troast is now working as "a confidential assistant on development projects for the city of Passaic," where thousands of Mexican-Americans live, at a part-time salary of $25,000.
Since 1989, he has owned David R. Troast LLC, which "specializes in professional planning services for municipalities and private clients in northern New Jersey."
His redevelopment background would seem to be a good fit in Hackensack, which has launched an ambitious plan to make over its downtown.
Sniping critics
Since 1989, he has owned David R. Troast LLC, which "specializes in professional planning services for municipalities and private clients in northern New Jersey."
His redevelopment background would seem to be a good fit in Hackensack, which has launched an ambitious plan to make over its downtown.
Sniping critics
Four of Troast's most vociferous critics come from Hackensack's Board of Education, which spends more to educate a student than does the highly regarded village of Ridgewood, according to state education officials.
Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin was fired from a second job as municipal prosecutor after the winning City Council members took their seats in July 2013.
Two other critics, Jason Nunnermacker and Joseph Barreto, are Board of Education members who were on the losing slate, which was backed by the Zisa-allied City Council members who didn't run in May 2013.
Another critic, Daniel Carola, also is a member of the Board of Education.
His attacks on the mayor and other council members serve to deflect attention from the sad state of the city's crowded public schools.
A bigger concern is that The Record's reporters have filled stories with the critics' attacks on the council, smears about Troast and other fiction without ever telling readers of their school board affiliations or that they are basically sore losers.
Today's paper
The Record today reports state officials have approved a bond to settle $8.65 million in property tax appeals in Hackensack (L-1).
At the same time, the city adopted a plan to bring tax assessments up to date.
For a Tuesday, the Local section is filled with an unusual amount of police, fire and court news, and related photos on L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6.
They serve as little more than filler for local assignment editors too lazy to chase municipal news from the 90 or so towns in the circulation area.
Christie's hit list
The environment will be taking another hit from Governor Christie, who plans to grab more than $100 million from a lawsuit settlement to balance the state budget (A-1).
Only $50 million of the $190 million settlement with Occidental Chemical Corp. in the cancer-causing pollution of the Passaic River would go for restoration work.
As usual, The Record doesn't say how much of the $190 million settlement will go to lawyers.
Cleaning up the environment, expanding mass transit and other important programs have been sacrificed to the GOP bully's deeply conservative no-tax pledge and his refusal to impose a tax surcharge on his wealthy supporters.
As tax revenue continues to lag, a greedy Christie makes desperate grabs for money from other sources, as he will doing with the pollution settlement.
Nancy's laughing face?
Is that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with Christie on A-2 today?
That's what the photo caption says, but surely, that is wrong.
Instead, she looks like a member of the governor's Overeaters Anonymous class.
Eye on The Record
will return soon
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