May 11, 2010
By SETH AUGENSTEIN
SPARTA -- The Township Council fired Township Manager Henry Underhill Monday night, after a week of closed-door meetings and rumors.
The council's decision was unanimous. Although terms of the separation agreement were not publicly available until today, the council also agreed to appoint David Troast, the township planner, to the role of interim administrator in a separate, also unanimous vote.
Underhill was appointed township manager in 2000. He had previously been business administrator for Irvington, as well as serving a 15-year stint as the administrator for Chatham Borough.
Underhill has faced some recent opposition and apparent disfavor in Sparta,
however.
When state aid reductions were unveiled in March, the council met to discuss how best to cut about $300,000 it had anticipated that had been removed. But those discussions were put off; Underhill was on vacation, and the council was awaiting his suggestions. (Even before the state cut aid, the municipality also had to account for an unexpected nearly $1 million shortfall, due to a drop in collected taxes, among other factors.)
Differences between Underhill and the council were made public when the manager returned from vacation. The council instructed him at the April 12 council meeting to reduce the secretarial staff of the police department. But by the next meeting on April 22, Underhill had not done so -- and instead came up with a separate proposal that he said the "chief would prefer."
After several minutes of discussion, the council overrode Underhill's plan.
In mid-April, too, the council passed an ordinance over Underhill's protests allowing a councilman to sit in on the township's union negotiations. Underhill had balked, saying that it "undermined the position of the township manager." The council assured him otherwise.
Criticism has also come from the candidates seeking council seats in today's local election. One of the newcomers unveiled the firing of Underhill as a prime campaign promise, and he even said Underhill's personal finances were a reason for doing so.
Underhill and his attorney declined comment.
Two years ago, Underhill interviewed for the position of village manager for Islamorada, Fla. The video of the interview was made public at the time on the village's website.
