New Paterson appointee: What can we do better?

PATERSON — Edward Boze wants to know what’s wrong with the city government.

But unlike the activists and gadflies who attend weekly City Council meetings to complaint about various issues, Boze is going to collect a $100,000 annual salary to examine Paterson’s problems and try to come up with solutions. 

Mayor Andre Sayegh on Tuesday introduced Boze as Paterson’s new chief innovation officer during a City Hall press conference. Sayegh said Boze would look at “long-standing problems through a different lens.”

Boze, who starts work on Aug. 26, won’t actually be on the city payroll. Funding for his work is being paid for through a partnership including The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, Passaic County Community College and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Boze will be on the college’s payroll, an arrangement that officials said would allow his salary to be paid by the private grants.

In September, Sayegh said the city will announce the hiring of a chief data officer, the second member of Paterson’s “innovation team,” who also will make $100,000. The city has secured grant funding to keep the innovation team in place for three years, the mayor said.

Boze said he plans to hold a series of meetings with municipal employees and residents.

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“What are we doing that makes no sense any longer?” Boze said, describing his approach to improving city government. “What should we absolutely stop doing?”

Boze previously has worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a senior actuarial analyst and software project manager and for Xerox Business Services as liaison to various research and development labs, according to Paterson officials.

Sayegh said he expected to get his first set of recommendations from Boze sometime in October.

Editor’s note: The Taub Foundation also provides a grant that helps keep Paterson Press in operation.

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