New Trustees, New Start for Brookdale

As Monmouth County Freeholder Director John Curley sees it, naming two new members to the is the start of a new start for the college.

The two new trustees are: David G. Flaherty, of Howell, and Charles Karcher, of Colts Neck.

“With the appointment of these trustees we have begun the process of replacing the entire Board of Trustees, which I have mandated upon uncovering and exposing the mismanagement of the college,” Curley said in a released statement.

After a scandal last year concerning the questioned spending practices of the college’s then president, Peter F. Burnham, Burnham resigned and Curley, the Freeholders’ liaison to the county college, called for wiping the tarnished board clean and replacing all members.

Because of what Curley said were poor financial decisions made by Burnham and sactioned by the board, taxpayers would ultimately bear the burden in the county portion of their tax bills. 

The board allegedly signed off on bills compensating Burnham for housing, a new car, country club memberships, and tuition to private colleges for his two sons.

The trustee search committee is searching for candidates who can exhibit a "moral and fiscal responsibility" to county taxpayers and to those paying tuition to Brookdale, Curley had said in a previous interview. He added that while some board members may not resign, any left from the Burnham tenure will not be reappointed.

"We have individuals, whether they are good or bad, who are policing their own failures," Curley had said of his rationale in calling for mass resignations. Two, so far, have followed suit. The board's attorney, John Cantalupo, also resigned.

On the heels of the fiscal scandal, board member Howard Birdsall stepped down in May of last year and Simon Bosco resigned in November, not citing the scandal as the reason.

Flaherty and Karcher will replace them. Flaherty is a Howell police officer, executive director of the Howell Chamber of Commerce and a former Howell Board of Education member; and, Karcher is a Red Bank attorney, a county released statement said. The two were appointed at a special meeting on March 29.

Curley is still calling for people to apply to sit on the board in the event of more vacancies. Eight of the 13 board seats are freeholder-appointed and two are governor-appointed. The other three seats are reserved for a Brookdale graduate representative, the college president and the county schools superintendent.

Being on the trustees board “is a terrific opportunity for a resident to take a dynamic role at New Jersey’s best community college,” Curley said. “Brookdale needs leaders who will help steer the course of this quality, affordable higher education institution.”

Anyone interested in filling a future trustee vacancy should submit a resume to the Brookdale Trustee Search Committee c/o Marion Masnick, Clerk of the Board, Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Hall of Records, 1 East Main St., Freehold, NJ 07728.