Who posted this job?

A posting appeared on the Orthodox Union Job Board on Dec. 14 seeking a chief executive officer for the Village of Lawrence, at an annual salary of $150,000 plus benefits. The Orthodox Union promotes the values of the Orthodox Jewish community.

But on Monday, not one of the village trustees acknowledged knowing anything about the job advertisement. Trustees C. Simon Felder, Edward I. Klar and Deputy Mayor Joel Mael said they did not know that an ad was published on the Job Board. Trustee Michael Fragin said only, “I won’t comment on personnel matters.”

When the Herald called the village to find out more about the position, the receptionist said she did not know about the posting, and transferred the call to Village Administrator Dave Smollett, who also said he was unaware of it. “No advertisement was placed through anyone here at Village Hall,” Smollett said. “[Neither] myself nor the mayor knows anything about it. The ad was not placed by anyone in this office.”

Michael Rosner, the international director of the Orthodox Union Job Board, would not say who posted the job listing. “A male trustee placed the ad,” Rosner said, “but I am unauthorized to publish who posted it.”

Mayor Martin Oliner said last Thursday that although he had not seen the listing, he had spoken to officials at the Orthodox Union about it.

According to Oliner, the village has been “seriously” looking for the past few months to fill positions, including a deputy village administrator, who would assist Smollett. “We’re looking to replace people who have historically not been there,” Oliner said. “We lost several key employees this past year.

“We’re not looking to add positions, we’re looking to consolidate positions,” he added. “A CEO or chief operating officer would be responsible for operations of the different units we have, such as the highways department, golf course and employees. The title is not as important as the job function.”

Oliner said that the $150,000 salary listed in the ad is the maximum the village would offer a candidate, and any job offer would depend on experience. “A potential candidate must have strong leadership and organizational skills as well as their overall experience, years in government, the ability to deal with people and technical ability in governmental accounting operations,” he said.

Mael said that the village has needed additional employees for a while. “The mayor has not presented to any of us any candidate or proposal, although myself and other trustees have been pushing for additional senior-level help in the village,” he said. “Myself and the other trustees have been frustrated in the lack of progress in hiring additional people, but I’m glad to hear some action has been taken.”

Mael also said that if he were hiring someone, he would try to reach a large number of potential applicants. “If I was posting ads for this position, I’d like to reach the greatest group of people possible,” he said.

Mael said he had suggested to village officials that they contact the City of Long Beach to see who its top three runners-up were after last month’s hiring of City Manager Jack Schnirman. “If this was the only publication the ad was placed in, I would question why they were doing it that way,” Mael said. “I thought it was a great suggestion, since Long Beach did an extensive search, so it would be a great place to start.”

In order to apply for the CEO position, a potential candidate must register for an account on the Orthodox Union Job Board website and submit his or her resume, which would then be sent to the village.

In neighboring Lynbrook, Village Administrator John Giordano is responsible for the daily operations of all village departments, serves as budget officer and maintains village finances. Asked about the difference between a village administrator and a chief operating officer, Giordano said, “I suspect that what [Lawrence] did was use CEO and village administrator terms conterminously in order to attract a broader pool of candidates, because if they use the term CEO they might attract people with backgrounds from private sectors. Village clerk, manager and administrator mean the same thing.”

Patricia O’Byrne, clerk-treasurer of the Village of Great Neck, said that when municipalities are hiring, they usually try to reach the broadest pool of applicants as possible. “We would post an ad in Newsday, The New York Times and on the New York Conference of Mayors website,” O’Byrne said.