Caldwell Councilman Gordon Lawshe Accepts New Position in Town

Lawshe Says he Will Accept new Job at Center

This morning, Caldwell Councilman Gordon Lawshe said he will accept the job at the community center.
Diane Lilli
Posted

At the Caldwell council meeting last night, the council members voted 4-1 to offer Caldwell councilman Gordon Lawshe a position in the Caldwell Community Center. A resolution was passed, and the job offer was public, so it could be be offered to Lawshe as early as last night or Thursday morning.

Caldwell Mayor Sue Gartland and Councilman Lawshe were not present at the meeting.

As of early this morning, Lawshe said he planned to accept the position.

With his resignation, a new council member will be appointed by his fellow Republicans.

According to Councilman Peter Murray, who explained how the process works, when a council person resigns before his term is completed his party, in this case the Republican party, can choose a replacement, taken from 3 suggested candidates. Then, the council will vote on the proposed council member. This will occur within 30 days.

Lawshe, who has a sports background combined with sales experience, seems to closely match the requirements for the advertised job.

The job description, as published, calls for a membership program director. The posted job calls for someone with sports and sales experience.

In a previous interview, Lawshe said he was a circulation sales account representative for the Star Ledger for 10 years. He added he has been a coach for 10 years for the high school girls’ basketball team; an official for both girls and boys varsity games, and an umpire for softball for high school girls’ teams.

He has also been an umpire at the mens’ league in town for 30 years, and has been in the mens basketball league in town for 30 years as well.

During the meeting, the idea to offer Lawshe the position at the community center was accepted wholeheartedly by Caldwell council president Ann Dassing and council members Joe Norton, Rich Hauser and Peter Murray.

However, council member Kay Slattery did not approve, saying the position was an unfilled one that need not be filled; that the new director of the community center should have more time before the council passed a resolution hiring someone for the position, and that 2 anonymous employees had expressed a negative reaction to the idea.

But Hauser quickly defended the decision, reminding Slattery that with reduced revenues at the center, everyone had agreed that building membership would be the key to success.

The salary for this position is $49,000. This salary was already in the borough budget, with the position open and waiting to be filled. .

The Caldwell Community Center has gone through a major overhaul lately, since new director Rob Paterson joined the borough in early May. Membership sales are starting to grow, and the summer camp is booked to capacity.

Revenue at the community center had been lagging before the new director had joined the borough.

Updates to follow