Dear Editor:
Recently, I read that Jersey City Business Administrator John Kelly is working as Finance Director (C.F.O.) for the city Orange, while concomitantly serving as Jersey City Business Administrator, as well as the tax assessor for two other towns. The Orange job is particularly disturbing because he clearly tried to deceive the Jersey City public, as he mentioned his two smaller tax assessor jobs when he was interviewing for the Jersey City job, but not the Finance Director/C.F.O. position for the City of Orange. It’s not incomprehensible that he would volitionally OMIT the Orange job – doing such a big job, while at the same time performing the duties of Jersey City Business Administrator would certainly “raise eyebrows” and engender opposition to him. Mr. Kelly says he will perform the tax assessor jobs on the weekends. But when confronted with knowledge of his Finance Director job at Orange, he replied that he does the job on Saturdays – that a folder is waiting for him on Saturdays. Wow, I guess this guy must turn into Superman on the weekends! Kelly’s explanation does not pass the “smell test” – there is now way that he does not have to do considerable amount of work at the Orange job during the week when he is supposed to be focused on being Jersey City Business Administrator. The people of Jersey City deserve to have a Business Administrator who does not OMIT vital information from them and who is 100 percent focused on the duties of Jersey City Business Administrator. Kudos to Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop for bringing this matter to the public.
Rob Kohn