Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is making waves in his new position by conducting audits, shaking up the police department and bringing aboard former Gov. Jim McGreevey to run a prisoner reentry program. He told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that he believes there will be great progress one year from now.
Folup said he reached out to McGreevey to run the reentry initiative because of his decade of experience and success in that area. It’s a job for him that pays $110,000 annually. “I’m confident in one year from now when you look back on this decision that people are gonna say it’s something that we did really, really well,” Fulop said.
A desk audit of every city employee has already begun. “There’s a lot of waste in the system and we need to kind of create a system of kind of verifying who’s been performing and at the same time we’re gonna be doing performance reviews, some things that haven’t been done in Jersey City in a long time,” Fulop said.
The mayor explained that it will mean a reduction in workforce. “We have a massive budget gap and that’s a challenge and we have a structural deficit so we’re gonna have to take the appropriate measures to stabilize taxes in the long term,” he said.
Jersey City has the busiest Building Department in the state, according to Fulop. He said getting the buildings filled could impact the amount of layoffs. “I think a lot of these things are tied in together so you talk about jobs, it’s tied into taxes, it’s tied into crime, it’s tied into education so really all these issues are really at the heart of it one issue as it relates to a livable city,” he said.
Fulop said his administration has started to reshuffle the management structure of the police department and they’re attracting a new public safety director who is a very senior person in a big city. The details are being finalized and he hopes to be able to release the name to the public by the end of the week, but he called him a “phenomenal candidate” and one that will “command respect from day one.”
Fulop said his biggest surprise so far as mayor is the culture he has encountered. He explained that in his first week on the job he had a police officer get a DWI and discharge his weapon and last week he had a city employee that allegedly illegally took a city car and solicited a prostitute. “It’s been an experience as it relates to the culture of some of the judgement of some of the employees, things we’re gonna root out and be aggressive about,” he said.
Fulop said when long-time employees make poor decisions, it speaks to the culture. “If it’s been happening over some time and he’s felt comfortable with it, it’s probably a culture that’s pervasive in the organization. Not to say every single employee is doing that but it’s obviously a cultural issue that we need to kind of be aggressive about and reshape. That’s gonna take some time but we’re gonna do it,” he said.
When asked how he believes progress will be one year from now, Fulop is optimistic. “I think restructuring the police department, I think we’re gonna have a stable tax base once we actually get our hands around it. We’re gonna have some consolidation of city services. And then we’re gonna be working hand in hand with the education system to expand after school programs and recreation opportunities. Some near term objectives we’re gonna get accomplished,” he said.