Matthews Lands Job at Housing Authority

Former Brick Township Councilman Anthony Matthews is now an employee of the Brick Township Housing Authority.

Matthews, who was elected to the council in 2003, July 21. He gave few details about his reasoning for leaving the council in a resignation letter submitted that day to the township clerk, but wrote that he had been "called to serve the public in another capacity, specifically, serving some of our most vulnerable populations."

Matthews started work at the – a number of apartment buildings off Chambers Bridge Road that house the elderly and disabled – Aug. 8. He signed an employment agreement with the authority July 21, the same day he resigned from the council.

Under the terms of the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by Brick Patch, Matthews holds two positions at the authority. He will make $65,000 as Superintendent of Maintenance Services and $18,000 as Director of Staff Operations. The two positions add up to a total salary of $83,000. The agreement also calls for 1 percent raises during years two and three of his employment and 2 percent raises during years four and five. The agreement is not an actual contract, however, so Matthews' future employment is not guaranteed.

According to Dennis Salerno, the authority's executive director, Matthews will oversee maintenance services at the authority, and respond to maintenance concerns from residents. Salerno said Matthews qualified for the Director of Staff Operations position because of his knowledge of local, state and federal policies stemming from his term on the council. The authority receives most of its funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Salerno said.

Salerno said the positions had been available for some time, but were never advertised because the authority was instructed by its attorney that it did not have to advertise the positions publicly.

Matthews, who previously was employed as an advertising sales representative at The SandPaper newsmagazine in Surf City, did not provide comments on his exact role at the authority when contacted by Brick Patch. Salerno said he instructed Matthews not to comment on the positions in the press.