Morristown hires administrator from Perth Amboy; first woman in the post

That didn’t take long.

On the same day when Morristown’s former business administrator started his new gig, the town council unanimously approved his successor, Jillian Barrick.

Barrick, a certified planner, has been Perth Amboy’s administrator for the last two years.

Before that, she served for nearly four years as city administrator in East Orange, where she was the first woman to hold that title.

Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty said the East Orange native will have that distinction here, too.

“Everyone was thoroughly impressed with her,” said Dougherty, citing Barrick’s command of finance and redevelopment law.

Barrick will earn $160,000 in Morristown, where she succeeds Michael Rogers on Oct. 12, 2015.

Approximately 20 candidates applied for the position, the Mayor said. But Barrick’s experience in both the private and government arenas stood out.

“She understands the operation of budgets,” he said. “And she did a lot of work in the private sector with distressed cities.”

The council waived a residency requirement to approve the hire on Tuesday.

“She has a lot of expertise in helping cities with all kinds of operational challenges,” said Council President Rebecca Feldman. “And her background in planning and development will make her an especially good fit for the town of Morristown.” 

The council also unanimously approved measures to boost the pay range for administrators — Michael Rogers had made $135,000–and to name Chief Financial Officer Frank Mason as interim administrator for the next few weeks.

‘INTERVIEW…JUST FLOWED’

Rogers announced last month that he was leaving after a decade in Morristown to accept a similar, higher-paying post in Summit. He was scheduled to start there on Tuesday.

Instrumental in holding the line on municipal budget increases for the last five years, Rogers will be honored with a special day, “even though he didn’t want it,” said Mayor Dougherty.

Barrick, 38, consulted on budgets for Newark, Camden and New Orleans, and helped Philadelphia consolidate its housing services, as a senior management consultant for Public Financial Management in Philadelphia, which she joined in 2003. Later she worked in Atlanta, according to a 2010 report in The Star-Ledger.

“She understands how to work with distressed cities,”  Robert Bowser, the East Orange mayor at the time, told the newspaper. When Barrick left for Perth Amboy, Bowser lauded her as “a true professional” who “worked tirelessly” to reduce costs of services and health benefits.

Barrick studied architecture and city planning at Georgia Tech University, and earned a master’s degree in public administration last year from Rutgers-Newark. Early in her career, she was a planning manager for East Orange.

She was not present for Tuesday’s vote. According to her online profile, Barrick prides herself on “ensuring every citizen served receives the best services possible while being a good steward of precious, limited tax dollars.”

In Perth Amboy, Barrick doubled as the city’s chief operating officer, and was the city’s representative to the Middlesex Water Company. Additionally, she was chief of staff to the mayor.

She is a member of the International City County Managers Association, the New Jersey Municipal Managers Association, the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Planning Association.

Alison Deeb, the lone Republican on the Morristown council, praised Barrick’s “stellar qualifications” while noting that the administration did not share references with the council.

References never are shared in such situations, to avoid jeopardizing an applicant’s present employment, the Mayor said.

Dougherty added that before Rogers departed, the administrator interviewed Barrick and recommended her highly.  Each council member also spoke with her during the process.

“When we interviewed Ms. Barrick, the first interview lasted two hours. It just flowed,” the Mayor said.

Barrick did not accept the job offer immediately, however.

“She came to Morristown first and spent some time here,” the Mayor said. And she was sold.