TOMS RIVER-With the departure of former Brick Township Mayor, Steve Acropolis, the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority hired a new executive director.
Robert J. “Bob” Dibiase took over the position on September 1st.
Dibiase has previously served as Deputy Director of Recreation and Human Services for the Township of Toms River.
Prior to working for the township, Dibiase Bob spent over 30 years managing subterranean projects for Verizon, Inc. (then N.J. Bell and Bell Atlantic) and tending to customer service issues for their top 100 accounts.
As a former area manager and supervisor of 150+ people, he has decades of experience in handling emergencies both above and below ground to maintain services for customers.
With a career in public utilities, Mayor Tom Kelaher chose to appoint him as the township’s Emergency Resource Manager mere hours after Super Storm Sandy ravaged the community in 2012.
His dedication to job and community extends to the country as well. He is a decorated Vietnam veteran who attained the rank of Sergeant E-5 and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corp. in addition to the Infantry & Aviation Brigade, with tours also in Germany and the United States.
Dibiase also maintains stats as “Friends” of the board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County and a proud “Big Brother” to the “little brother” he has mentored for the last 10 years. He and his wife Roberta have lived in Toms River for more than three decades.
Along with his appointment to the board, of course was clamoring from the two board Democrats who claimed the Vietnam veteran was not qualified for the job, because he served as the President of the Toms River Republican Club for many years.
Dibiase stepped down from that position in August.
Carmen Memoli, Chairman of the MUA, a public oversight committee, said Dibiase’s hiring comes with savings to ratepayers. He will earn $40,000 per year less than his predecessor and has waived his health benefits, a nearly $70,000 annual reduction in costs for the position.