When Delran’s township manager, Jeff Hatcher, retired at the end of 2021, Delran was left without a township manager. Jeff had been the Town’s manager since the early 1990’s, and he let the council and Mayor know that he would be retiring in September of last year. Instead of immediately writing an RFP seeking a new town manager, the council and Mayor waited until January to begin the search for a full time replacement for the most important position in the municipality.

When Hatcher decided to retire and exit stage left, the Mayor moved from his much smaller office meant for the sitting Mayor, into the much larger office meant for the Township manager.

Delran’s hunt for a new full time manager must not have been going very well, because in January they employed Government Strategies Inc. to assist them in their search. Delran’s Council President, Tyler Burrell, claimed at the June, 14th council hearing, that the township received two or three applications of what he called “mostly green individuals”. Vice President of Council, Tom Lyon, claimed that the applicants were seeking $175,000 per year plus benefits, with Burrell saying that by hiring a part time township manager, as they did with Joe Belina, the township was saving over $100,000.

Delran Resident, Barb Littleton, asked a very simple question that seemed to upset Burrell. Littleton merely asked why the town needed a full time manager prior to Belina, and if the town ever needed a full time manager in the first place? Burrell fired back saying that “I Frankly don’t understand the controversy in it” referring to the hiring of Belina in only a part time capacity.

Part of that controversy was caused by Burrell himself, who at the January 24th council hearing said that Government Strategies was hired to bring on a “full time” township manager. Delran paid Government Strategies a total of $29,250 for the temporary administrator, as well as for finding the township a full time town manager, a task that was only partly completed.

The scandals the township has suffered over the last two years seem to have one common factor, and that’s Mayor Catrambone, who the former full time township manager of three decades, Jeff Hatcher, couldn’t even seem to control. From the 300K spent on the Dunphy scandal, to the 100K spent on the two hour Carli Party, to the 45% increase in the solid waste contract, nearly one million dollars were wasted due to poor decisions made directly by the Mayor just last year alone. With all of this happening under the watchful eye of a full time township manager, it doesn’t make any sense to hire a part time manager, unless of course, this is just a part time hustle.