The city job of a woman named in an FBI search warrant is now being questioned.
ORANGE -- The $109,000 city job of a woman named in an FBI investigation into spending practices at the public library is secure for now, even though members of the city's governing body say it's not a legal position.
The "chief of staff" job, which city officials say is currently filled by Tyshammie Cooper, has never been created via a city statute, or lawfully budgeted for, council members say.
Though the official creation of the job was on the agenda to be considered at the council's Sept. 6 meeting, it was pulled by Mayor Dwayne Warren's administration before the meeting started.
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"The position is an illegal position. It is not funded (in the budget)," said Councilman Kerry Coley, who ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign to unseat Warren earlier this year.
"But the mayor is still paying a person, Tyshammie Cooper, to be in that position."
The creation of two other jobs - aide to the mayor and deputy business administrator - were also on the agenda, but pulled. Neither job is currently filled, city officials said. Neither position was proposed with a specific salary, they said.
"I don't think it had the votes," Coley said of why the items were pulled from the council agenda.
But, city spokesman Keith Royster said the positions will be back before the council in the future, just in a different form.
"Mayor Warren withdrew the several titles before (the) council meeting, including the chief of staff position, because the mayor is revising the current organizational chart," Royster said.
"(He) has tasked the new Business Administrator (Christopher Hartwyk) with doing an organizational assessment for the City of Orange Township, for presentation to the city council."
Council members say that past mayors have appointed chiefs of staff, as well, but that the position was never officially created.
It and the deputy business administrator position have come under fire in recent years, after the council in 2013 denied Warren's pick for business administrator, Willis Edwards III. Warren appointed Edwards deputy business administrator, a role he carried out for several years, until the council sued the city to have him removed.
Edwards and Cooper swapped jobs before Edwards officially left city employment at the end of 2015.
A judge ruled in February that Edwards owes the city the salary he was paid in the job, $268,000. Last month, a judge granted Edwards a delay in paying pending the outcome of his appeal of the February decision, city officials confirmed.
Both Edwards and Cooper - who also serves as the library Board of Trustees president in Orange and a councilwoman in neighboring East Orange - were named in an FBI warrant executed at the library in July. Edwards has denied any wrongdoing connected with the ongoing FBI probe. Cooper has not responded to requests for comment.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.