Pemberton Ex-Mayor Named Acting Deputy Clerk in Galloway

After initially having a resolution on the agenda to name a permanent township clerk, removing it prior to the start of the meeting and going into executive session at its meeting, Galloway Township Council named an acting deputy clerk at its meeting Tuesday night, March 13.

Thalia C. Kay, of Absecon, was named to the position Tuesday night. She was not in attendance at the meeting.

Although nothing was said about the situation during the meeting, prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Councilman Dennis Kleiner said the person the township had hired for the full-time position found a job “closer to home,” saying that the person lived one hour north of Galloway. Tuesday night’s meeting was the last for Leticia M. Loeser, who was named acting deputy clerk on Feb. 14. According to Kleiner, the township will once again begin the search for a full-time clerk.

Kay is a certified municipal finance officer, a registered municipal clerk and is licensed as an attorney in Pennsylvania, according to her resume made available at Tuesday’s meeting.

Most recently, Kay was the chief financial officer (CFO) in Mount Laurel from 2010 to Dec. 31, 2011. Prior to that, she served as CFO for Barnegat Light from 2006-09; the manager/clerk for Springfield Township in Burlington County from 2003-05; and as Pemberton mayor from 1991-2002, during which time she served as president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors, specifically from 1998-99.

In Pemberton, she also was on the Board of Education and was a member of the Rotary Club.

She’s held numerous positions with the New Jersey League of Municipalities, including vice president; was on the Pinelands Municipal Council; is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association and American Bar Association; is a member of Phi Alpha Delta; and was on the New Jersey Supreme Court Judiciary Advisory Committee on ADA Compliance.

Professionally, she was a teacher at the secondary and college levels for over 10 years and is self-employed in accounting and business.

She graduated from Bangor High School in Bangor, ME, earned her bachelor’s degree in history and government and her master's in Canadian-American relations from the University of Miami at Orono, and attended the Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, DE.

Loeser was a part-time deputy clerk in Galloway and Absecon for a month. She took over for previous clerk Kimberley Hodsdon, who resigned on Jan. 30 to return to her position as director of human resources in Wildwood.