Freeholders Tap Faella As County Manager

Union County freeholders tapped the head of the county’s parks and community renewal department as the new county manager during a meeting Thursday evening.

Alfred Faella will assume the county manager’s post on August 1, following the of County Manager George Devanney. Faella, a Mountainside resident, has served for several years at the helm of the county’s parks system and community development program.

“Al has developed a reputation as someone who is a problem solver and gets the job done,” Freeholder Chairwoman Deborah Scanlon said in a statement. “He is also uniquely qualified having served in county, state and municipal government at different levels. He understands public policy and we are looking forward to working with him.” 

According to a press release sent out by the county government, Faella has also served as the county’s economic development director, information technologies director and community development director. Prior to joining county government, he was the community development director and neighborhood services director in Elizabeth. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kean University and is an Elizabeth native.

Faella is the 11th county manager since the county adopted the form of government in the 1970s. In the position he will serve as the chief executive of county government, along with implementing policy decisions of the all-Democratic freeholder board.

Faella, 56, assumes a post held by Devanney for nine years. Devanney, 49, suddenly announced his retirement last week, with just under two weeks notice. Devanney said he was retiring to spend more time with his family and work with his wife’s public affairs consulting firm.

Faella takes over a county government dealing with declining tax revenues and a new state imposed two-percent property tax cap. The county has also dealt with critics saying the government has spent too much and created programs that do not fall in the scope of county government, including MusicFest and cultural programs, along with suburban communities saying the county has focused more attention on urban communities which lean Democratic.

The county government is also dealing with an investigation led by Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow into the use of funds received by the county in the operation of the 2010 MusicFest. The investigation was started after Tina Renna, the president of the Union County Watchdog Association and frequent critic of the county, said public records she requested did not document the funds received. County officials have said that the funds were used appropriately.

Faella said in a statement that economic development and budget management are at the top of his agenda as county manager. He said that he would create a governmental efficiency task force to focus on finding ways to streamline county government.

Faella also said he plans to focus on shared services. County freeholders have shared services a in recent years, including focusing offering new services to local governments. Earlier this year the county t at the Union County Vo-Tech campus in Scotch Plains. The summit focused on educating local governments on county shared services, along with hosting forums for local officials to discuss shared services.

“Job creation is among our residents’ highest concerns,” Faella said in a statement. “We will continue to develop important public-private projects and foster a business-friendly climate.”