Politics & Government

$63K Annual Pension Coming for Retiring Highlands Director

Gene Feyl will retire April 1; only served in post for 23 months.

While the highest salary he earned as an elected official came in 2007 at the sum of $30,988, soon-to-retire Highlands Council Director Gene Feyl will receive an annual pension of more than $63,000 once he leaves his post April 1.

In a report by the New Jersey Herald, Feyl – a former Morris County Freeholder and former Denville councilman – will receive 54.5-percent of his final year’s salary because he is a United States Navy veteran over age 60.

Feyl will turn 70 this year. His current salary in the appointed position with the Highlands Council is $116,000. Upon his April retirement, Feyl will have spent less than two years total in the post.

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The director received 13 months credit for his military service, the report said, which he purchased.

Feyl was appointed to his position by an 8-7 vote without an interview for the job in April 2012, just a month after former director Eileen Swan was removed from the post.

Find out what's happening in Mendham-Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The council has yet to announce a replacement. In the interim, former Morris County Freeholder and Washington Township resident Margaret Nordstorm, currently serving as deputy director of the council, will be acting executive director.

Chester Township is home to the Highlands Council's meetings. The state-organized group oversees the Highlands Act, created in 2004 to restrict development on more than 860,000 acres of land in northern New Jersey that provides drinking water to residents throughout the state.


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