By PETE WALTON
The new acting borough administrator in Bradley Beach expects to present the groundwork for a new contract with public works employees at the next Borough Council meeting on Jan. 21.
Matt Doherty, who was appointed to the temporary post on Jan. 1, delivered the news at the council’s first regular meeting of 2025 earlier this week.
“We have a meeting at the end of this week with the representatives of the union, and I think that will go a long way toward providing the tools for our employees to move forward,” Doherty said.
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152 have been working without a contract for more than two years.
Last summer, after lawn signs popped up around the borough urging progress on a new deal, Local 152 President Daniel Ross Jr. told former mayor Larry Fox to “stop stalling and get back to the bargaining table.”
“Negotiations were slow and stalled because of the borough’s refusal to withdraw proposals that would gut workplace benefits already earned by unit members,” Ross said. “Only after UFCW members made the stagnant negotiations public … did [Fox] meet with the UFCW committee. We were prepared to negotiate a new and reasonable agreement. Unfortunately, the borough was not willing to negotiate.”
Ross said Fox, who did not run for reelection, excluded council members from the negotiating process.
“Ultimately, the Borough Council must approve any agreement, hence the reason that we’ve requested the council to participate in negotiations like they have in years past,” Ross said.
Former mayor Gary Engelstad said in a letter to The Coaster last summer that he supported a quick resolution to the dispute.
“This is utterly intolerable,” Engelstad wrote. “Get council representation on the ‘negotiating team’ and negotiate a fair and equitable contract that acknowledges the incredible impact that this group has on our borough.”
“Fix it now,” Engelstad urged.
No further progress was made toward a new contract before Fox left office on New Year’s Eve.
Also at this week’s meeting, the council hired certified municipal finance officer Frederick C. Ebenau to review the borough’s recent financial status, at a cost not to exceed $5,000.
Mayor Al Gubitosi said Ebenau was being hired to perform “a fairly limited scope of services to help the governing body [get] a bit of a lookback into our financial situation.” The mayor said Ebenau has assisted other municipalities in addressing various financial challenges.
The council also hired PM Consultants LLC as temporary chief financial officer of the borough. The firm will assist the borough in finding a more permanent chief financial officer.
Gubitosi said the borough was speaking with two other municipalities about possible shared service agreements for financial officers.
