Longport Borough Clerk Monica Kyle.
LONGPORT – The Board of Commissioners Wednesday, Jan. 16 appointed Monica Kyle to the position of municipal clerk. Kyle fills the spot vacated when former clerk Matthew Conlon’s appointment was not renewed. It also approved a three-year appointment for longtime municipal engineer Richard Carter. However, Carter said he plans to retire at the end of 2019.
Kyle said she decided to accept the position but will continue to work in the Building Department one or two days a week.
Kyle lives in Northfield with husband Howard and her two daughters, ages 7 and 9, has worked for the borough on an off for nearly 20 years.
A former staff writer for The Current weekly newspaper group, Kyle first started working for the borough in 2001 as secretary to the mayor. She left in 2004 to become a communications director at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority but returned four years later as deputy clerk and then acting clerk, a position she held for several years before taking a hiatus from government employment. She returned to the borough on a temporary basis in 2013 and started working in the Building Department in 2014. Starting in 2015, she served as deputy clerk for longtime Municipal Clerk Amy Strawder and Conlon. Through it all, she kept up her certification as municipal clerk, which she first obtained in 2015. She is also a certified registrar and has a technical assistant license.
“I agreed to help out as municipal clerk for a three-year term,” she said. “We’ll see how it works out.”
The commission will consider hiring a deputy clerk, a position Kyle said is needed.
“They definitely need someone to fill in as back-up when the clerk cannot attend meetings,” she said.
It was unclear if anyone currently working at Borough Hall has the certification required to serve as deputy clerk.
The board also renewed Carter’s appointment for three years, although he said he is winding down his career and will retire at the end of the year.
“The state statute requires a three-year appointment, but I will retire before the end of the year,” he said.
He advised the board to start looking for his replacement, whether it is hiring someone on staff or going out for a professional services contract.
His salary will be $30,000 this year. Kyle said she has yet to negotiate a salary for her new role.
Longport considers options in anticipation of municipal engineer’s retirement
