News

By Tim O’Meilia

    Before Manalapan Commissioner Howard Roder could make a motion to fire Town Manager Linda Stumpf, the other commissioners quickly gave her a 5-1 vote of confidence Dec. 18.
    “I want to consider other candidates for the position of town manager,” Roder said, less than 24 hours after emailing his complaints about Stumpf to other commissioners.
Roder had little chance to enumerate his complaints about Stumpf before Commissioner Louis DeStefano leapt to her defense and moved to retain her.
“I feel we’re fortunate to have her as town manager. She works all hours and has always been available to the Town Commission,” said Mayor Basil Diamond, who votes only in case of ties.
    Commissioner Bill Quigley, who served on the commission through four of the last five town managers, said, “I have never seen a more professionally willing person. I think it would be travesty if we lost her.”
In his email, Roder complained that Stumpf overstated how much the town would save if the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office replaced the town’s police force, that she misstated police statistics and inflated crime statistics, among other things.
“I realized the information being supplied was not fully researched, misleading or manipulated. I am not saying that this was done purposefully or maliciously,” he wrote in the email.
“You’re cherry-picking some errors, some factual, some typos,” DeStefano told Roder. “Your aim is to find fault and make an issue of it.”
Commissioner David Cheifetz said sloppy paperwork didn’t negate how well she handled the Sandy storm crisis, during which oceanfront seawalls were damaged.
Stumpf called in state officials to walk the beaches and arranged for several meetings with affected homeowners.
Commissioner Donald Brennan bemoaned the public discussion of Stumpf’s performance. “I make a plea that we have to de-escalate the public display and the exchanges because it’s unproductive.”
Stumpf, former administrator in Palm Beach Shores and Mangonia Park, was hired as the town’s finance director in 2003. She was appointed interim town manager in October 2010 and was hired permanently two months later. She earns $105,000 a year.
She said nothing until the vote to retain her was taken. “Thank you very much for that,” she said.