Updated: Hightstown Borough Administrator Resigns

Hightstown Borough Administrator Herbert Massa tendered his resignation Tuesday to return to working in schools, his original career.

A retired school business administrator, he got his start at the age of 21 in Howell, where he ended up spending 28 years as assistant superintendent and school board secretary before going onto other districts for the next 9 years. Still a Howell resident, Massa is leaving Hightstown to take a position as interim business administrator in the West Long Branch Public School District. The move, he said, is purely a financial one.

Though he came on board in Hightstown just over a year ago, at the start of 2010, Massa has seen great changes in that relatively short time.

“It’s been a transitional year,” he said, noting the shift from the contentious police consolidation feasibility study to a new agreement with the Hightstown force. Under his leadership, that netted an additional 108 hours of work per year out of each of the ten officers on staff.

Massa also said he was proud of getting borough employees onto the state health benefits plan, which will save Hightstown about $300,000 annually. “I generally have not recommended the state health benefits plan for larger communities, however here in Hightstown it’s a smaller one and it does meet the requirements,” he explained. “It’s about the best you’re going to get right now.”

Other changes in personnel, particularly moving full-time positions to part-time, brought about another $100,000 or so in savings, he added.

Massa said he foresees a good tax year in 2011, now that the borough no longer depends on the state’s old extraordinary aid program. In the near future, he said it would be up to the Borough Council to make decisions about capital expenditures, an issue he has been consolidating so that all needs can be examined at once.

Overall, he said he has had a pleasant time working in Hightstown and with the elected officials here.

“The council members are all major players,” he said. “All have much to offer. The residents of Hightstown, they should be very, very proud of their council because they all put a lot of time and effort into that position.”

Though it was not yet clear today, Wednesday, when Massa would leave his position, he said he would be around for the next council meeting on March 21.

The borough is now working on posting notices for a new part-time administrator on the New Jersey League of Municipalities website as well as its own. Massa earns an annual salary of $50,000 a year and works 20 hours per week.

“I wish him well,” said Mayor Steve Kirson. “He’s a nice guy, a very knowledgeable man.”