These two officials will now steer Paterson's economic development strategy

PATERSON — With several major projects lingering on the drawing board, Mayor Andre Sayegh is rebuilding his economic development team, with two new appointees set to start work next week.

Sayegh has picked Tiffany Harris-Delaney to be his economic development director, at a salary of $140,000. She worked for the past three years as director of policy, planning and development in East Orange.

Harris-Delaney becomes the fifth person who previously worked in East Orange city government hired by the Sayegh administration. None of the other four lasted two years in their Paterson jobs.

Sayegh also appointed Washington Vivero to be deputy economic development director, a $110,000 position. This will be Vivero’s first job in the public sector. He previously owned a construction company that is no longer in business.

“Their wealth of experience and dedication to our city will undoubtedly contribute to our economic growth and the betterment of our community,” the mayor said of his appointees.

How the appointments came together

Sayegh’s previous economic development director, Michael Powell, resigned in the summer to take a job working for the city’s biggest developer, Charles Florio.

Before Vivero’s appointment, Paterson didn’t have a deputy director in the Economic Development Department. The former assistant director, Osner Charles, resigned from that position about a year ago. Charles was one of the four former East Orange city employees with brief stints in Paterson.

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Despite multiple inquiries from Paterson Press, Sayegh administration officials have not disclosed how many people applied for the six-figure-salary economic posts, nor have they revealed how many finalists were interviewed for the jobs.

Councilwoman Maritza Davila, a member of the economic development committee and frequent ally of the mayor, questioned the administration’s recruitment efforts in filling the pivotal positions.

“I was under the impression that there was going to be a bigger search,” Davila said. “But if these are the people that the mayor thinks are best for the city of Paterson, I welcome them.”

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What did Harris-Delaney and Vivero say?

Harris-Delaney told Paterson Press that her biggest accomplishment in East Orange has been the Brick Church redevelopment, a $500 million project that she said includes more than 800 housing units and 200,000 square feet of commercial space. She said the groundbreaking happened last fall.

“It was in the works for six or seven years, but I was the one who got it over the hump,” Harris-Delaney said.

Before taking the job in East Orange, her resume said, she worked at Integrity Inc., which is a Newark-based rehabilitation center for people with substance abuse issues. She also had been a special projects manager for Franklin Township in Somerset County.

Vivero said Harris-Delaney will focus on economic development policy issues while he will be the “on-the-ground facilitator.”

Vivero said his construction company had built about 50 two- and three-family homes in Paterson over the years.

“Paterson has enormous potential,” Vivero said. “It always has and it always will.”

Vivero’s resume also said he has been CEO of Wayne-based International Resources Group, a company he said has handled “public and private project funding.” When asked the location of that firm’s projects, Vivero said Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Economic development officials named by Mayor Sayegh