NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—The man in charge of relations between the city government and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) will continue to serve on the board of the New Brunswick Parking Authority (NBPA).

Kevin McTernan’s dayjob is at RWJUH, where he has worked since 1979.

He has chaired the NBPA Board of Commissioners, a powerful unpaid position, for the last fourteen years.

The parking authority operates more public parking decks than any other agency in New Jersey.  Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the hospital and the medical school it is affiliated with are the NBPA’s biggest clients.

Mayor James Cahill has appointed McTernan to another five-year term on the NBPA Board will continue to serve on the agency’s board of commissioners.

The City Council voted unanimously to consent to the re-appointment at their December 16 meeting.

The board consists of just five members, including the husband of a City Councilwoman and the Director of the New Brunswick Police Department.

The agency has a $27 million annual budget and, as recently as last year, held as much as a quarter-billion dollars in debt guaranteed by the city.  They are also one of the bigger commercial landlords in the city.

Kevin McTernan led board through a theft scandal that took down several employees in 2010, and remained in charge throughout another debacle, where the agency allowed a tenant to rack up a $1 million debt.

The NBPA had recruited the Fresh Grocer, a full-service supermarket, to move into the ground floor of their latest project, a 12-story parking garage that also included a fitness center affiliated with RWJUH.

McTernan lives in the Sixth Ward’s Buccleuch Park neighborhood, and has been a fixture in local affairs for decades. 

His wife Nancy Coppola chairs the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, which approved several zoning variances for the hospital earlier this year.

In addition to working for RWJUH as a nurse, Coppola also works for the city’s Board of Education as the head of Pupil Personnel Services, and leads the teachers’ union.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.