HILLSDALE—At the March 1 meeting of the mayor and council, the governing body approved the hiring of David Troast, of Hawthorne, as borough administrator, effective March 3.
Troast’s gross pay is $129,000. His contract is through the end of the year. He opted out of medical benefits but gets four weeks of vacation. He replaces Christopher Tietjen who resigned effective Feb 17.
Voting against were John Escobar, Abby Lundy, and Anthony DeRosa.
Voting for were Council President Janetta Trochimiuk, Zoltán Horváth, and Frank Pizzella.
Mayor John Ruocco, who has often clashed with the council majority, cast the tie-breaking vote.
Ruocco said Troast has many years’ experience in the private and public sectors. His professional planning and consulting firm specializes in community redevelopment, and he’s been project manager for architectural and engineering firms. He served many years in Sparta Township, including as its township manager and in directing their community development and planning.
More recently he served the residents of Hackensack as their city manager. He holds degrees in horticulture, landscape architecture, and planning from SUNY, Colorado State University, and CUNY respectively, and has studied public administration and redevelopment planning at Rutgers. He is certified as a civil mediator in the NJ Court system.
Ruocco said Troast has taught and lectured at Rutgers, the New Jersey League of Municipalities, Morris County Community College, and at many professionally organized conferences.
Troast’s LinkedIn headline reads “Professional planner, landscape architect, and civil mediator.” His career objective is “to continue to serve in government by enhancing the quality of public services for all people.”