Neshaminy board’s split on Maloney as engineer causes friction

A failed attempt to fill the new position of district engineer led to tension among some Neshaminy School Board members on June 27.

A motion to appoint Robert Maloney, currently the district's director of facilities and operations, to the new position at an annual salary of $141,508 resulted in a 4-4 deadlock among board members and thus failed. A ninth board member, Paul Saraullo, was unable to attend the meeting.

The board had voted at a previous meeting to eliminate the positions of facilities supervisor and director of facilities and operations and create the new position of district engineer. Before the June 27 vote, and without mentioning Maloney's name, board President Tina Hollenbach read a long prepared statement with pointed criticism of both the motion and the administration's recommendation for the position.

Hollenbach and fellow board members Cyndie Bowman, Alicia Lafferty and Carlos Rodriguez ended up voting “no” on the motion, while board members John Allen, Adam Kovitz, Marty Sullivan and Kellen Sporny voted in favor.

"To say I'm extremely disappointed in this board action item would be a tremendous understatement," Hollenbach said before the vote. "I believe school board members are here to provide guidance to the administration as well as to represent the community we are elected to serve. I, for one, take it seriously and work my hardest to not let outside factors influence my decision making.

"While, to some in the administration, this may just be a job, I and other school board directors take time out of our lives...and are involved for the betterment of the Neshaminy School District."

She touched on what she felt are problems within the facilities department and steps taken, including the consolidation of two positions into one, to address them.

"Working with the administration, we moved forward on things to help with our operation, security and efficiency within our infrastructure; an infrastructure, mind you, that we have spent tens of millions of dollars on in the time I've been on the board," Hollenbach said. "A recent incident toward the end of the school year highlighted our deficiencies in this area and, in my mind, lacked accountability and responsibility.

"Yet, it appears we the administration and the board are willing to continue to accept this. I, for one, am not. After countless time and effort on what we felt would be the best course moving forward, to have our input minimized and dismissed by those we entrust to run the district is very disheartening to say the least. I cannot accept the status quo. It truly defies logic, in my opinion, why anyone would be O.K. with the status quo."

Though they didn't immediately respond to Hollenbach's comments, board members Allen and Sullivan indicated during board comment near the end of the meeting that they took exception to them.

"I'm offended by the implication that some of us do not take our duties seriously, I feel like my personal integrity has been attacked," Allen said.

"I echo John's comments," Sullivan added. "Board members should say what they mean and mean what they say."

Substitute Superintendent and Director of Secondary Education Jason Bowman, currently Neshaminy's top administrator, and Maloney did not respond to requests for comment.

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