The mayor and Secaucus Town Council unanimously passed a resolution at their Feb. 21 special meeting to hire Marlene Prieto as a program coordinator in the finance department. Prieto, the wife of local Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, will earn an annual salary of $35,000, half of which will be paid for by a federal community development block grant.
She will report to the purchasing agent, who reports to Director of Finance Nick Goldsack. At the same time, Goldsack receives a salary for an advisory role to Assemblyman Prieto’s office.
Her responsibilities include the coordination of grants and handling expenses and reimbursements as they pertain to grants, according to Town Administrator David Drumeler. He said the town interviewed a number of individuals and that “she appeared to be the best candidate at the best value.”
Marlene Prieto worked for the Hudson County Improvement Authority in a similar capacity last year and earned $45,000 annually.
Vincent Prieto’s Assembly District includes Secaucus (his hometown), North Bergen, Guttenberg, West New York, East Newark, Edgewater, Fairview, Harrison, and Kearny.
Prior experience
“She [also] worked for Union City in their redevelopment agency, which handled $130 million in federal and state grants,” said Goldsack about her prior qualifications. He said that Prieto will ensure that the grants are allocated properly, as she did in a previous role as an executive secretary in Union City.
Goldsack said that the town lost $2 million in grants that were never carried out from the previous administration, and that Prieto will “administer grants from start to finish.” He said the position also saves the town $20,000 because two positions were combined into one.
“She was the most qualified person.” – Michael Gonnelli
__________
Volunteering locally
“Mrs. Prieto has been volunteering for me on numerous committees,” said Mayor Michael Gonnelli. “She is on the animal control committee. She helped with the parade. She has been doing a ton of stuff.” Gonnelli said that Marlene wanted to work for him and his administration specifically.
“It was totally nonpolitical,” noted Gonnelli who said that the position was widely advertised.
“We had seven applicants, most of whom would not work for the amount of money,” Gonnelli said.
Gonnelli said Prieto will not accept benefits for the entry level administrative position.
“She has a lot of experience with HCIA doing the same type of work,” Gonnelli said. “She was the most qualified person.”
Spouse Prieto’s publicly-held positions
Assemblyman Prieto made headlines last year because of his salaries from three public jobs. Prieto reportedly earns $49,000 as assemblyman, $123,000 as a construction code official in Secaucus, and $29,000 as Guttenberg’s construction official.
“Two of them are part-time jobs,” said Prieto in response last year. “Secaucus is a full time job…For Guttenberg, I go a couple of nights a week to oversee that department [and] to make sure it is functioning the way it should be. I’m very organized and I get things done.”
Prieto said that anyone can run for the part-time elected position and that the other two jobs pertain to his professional experience as a licensed construction code official. He said he saves Guttenberg money because they don’t have to hire a full-time construction code official.
Nicholas Goldsack also earns three public salaries. In addition to serving as Director of Finance for Secaucus and as an advisor to Assemblyman Prieto, he works as a part-time tax collector for Guttenberg.
To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com. Adriana Rambay Fernández can be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.