Supervisors to correct ANOTHER error by previous board
Search for township manager takes another interesting turn with agenda item to begin the search anew for a permanent township manager
In their May 13th meeting, the Exeter Township Supervisors will take up a motion to hire a new search firm to find a permanent township manager for Exeter.
An item on the agenda calls for the hiring of Kafferlin Strategies to conduct a new search, after the apparent failure of Jersey Professional Management (JPM). The Exeter Informant has reported that JPM is out of business, gleaned via a Google search, and a phone call that went to voicemail, divulging nothing of the company’s status.
JPM was hired by the previous BOS on July 10th, 2023. Pushed forward by former member Ted Gardella under a glowing recommendation to the board about the professionalism and results of JPM, at a cost of roughly $17,000. The motion was passed, 3-2 with Supervisors Bell, Kircher, and Gardella voting yes, and Hughes and Vollmer voting no. A contentious interplay between Gardella and Vollmer in the discussion revealed the beginning of the cracks that would lead to Gardella’s resignation a few weeks later.
Vollmer called for a presentation to be made by potential search firms. “I would really like JPM to come in. I went on their website, and they said that they would gladly come in and do a presentation. I’d really liked to have a presentation done so the community could see it. Then we could also ask questions and there could also be public comments on their presentation. I think that would be highly advantageous, because the use of firms in the past have yielded terrible success (sic) for this township, and I really think that this information needs to be presented. Lots of questions need to be asked when they're on the spot versus just signing a contract.”
Gardella batted that aside by stating, “I reject the notion that this is done in blind fashion. This information was presented. We discussed this during executive session. Mr. Vollmer was there and to my knowledge has done nothing to facilitate any further searches for firms,” and insisting that the choice was correct.
This is the second of Gardella’s initiatives to blow up in the last week. The revelation that Reading Hospitality Management (RHM) is pulling out of the Reading Country Club (RCC) is the other. The bad 75/25 contract with RHM and this lack of due diligence done are two very expensive mistakes that has cost Exeter taxpayers more than $160,000.
In other business, the Supervisors will get a report from the police on 2023 results, and possibly appoint new members to the police pension board.
In Disbursements, there is a check to EffecTV for $10,275.93 for “Golf Proshop Advertising”.
The 2024 adopted budget calls for advertising spending of $8,000 for the golf course, meaning that through April, the advertising budget has already been exceeded by 28%. That $8,000 is a 6% uptick from last year’s budgeted amount of $7,500.
This is an area of concern, as the golf course routinely loses hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and the taxpayers subsidize the play of every round of golf heavily. Advertising is an area that is an expenditure problem. 2023 spending was almost $50,000, or $42,323 and 664% over budget. For advertising to be over budget already is concerning because that spending went out of control last year. Combine this with the fact that they supposedly have a buyer on the hook, an “investment group”, and the question needs to be asked why we’re spending this money wantonly.
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There is no mention on the agenda about the RHM situation being officially addressed, but we can imagine that an announcement of some sort will happen.
The meeting is Monday at 7 PM at the township building.