New Finance Director Appointed

Mayor Dawn Zimmer has appointed Solomon Steplight as the city's new finance director. 

Steplight, who most recently served as Newark's assistant finance director, started work Monday. He will start off working for the city part time, Zimmer said, for a salary of $75,000. Steplight will work three days a week. 

Steplight succeeds Nick Trasente, who was hired by former fiscal monitor Judy Tripodi. Trasente has been working for Hoboken on a part time basis since March 2010, when he officially quit his full time position in town after taking a full time job in Middletown Township.

Since then, Trasente has stayed on in Hoboken as a part time finance director, coming to city hall during budget season mostly. For a while now, Trasente hasn't been able to be in Hoboken or attend the council meetings.

"We felt we needed someone who could be in Hoboken more," Zimmer said. 

Trasente will stay on during a transitional period, Zimmer said. It's unclear how long that period will be. 

The finance director is appointed by the mayor with the approval of the city council. 

When Tripodi was still working as the city's fiscal monitor, she tried to instate the position as a civil service position, Zimmer said. A test was administered to add the title to the city's official civil service list. 

Because the city never filled the civil service finance director position—but civil service commission still administered the test—the city had to pay a fine for that process. 

A $4,000 fine—$2,000 each for two separate positions that weren't filled—will be payed to the civil service commission. While the fine, which stems from 2009, coincides with the appointment of the new director, Zimmer said the timing is coincidental. 

"We were considering Solomon Steplight for a long time," Zimmer said.