EDA 'Sets Record Straight' on CommVault's Move to Tinton Falls

The Economic Development Authority (EDA) disputes a local official's stance on the relocation of CommVault to Fort Monmouth property in the Feburary issue of "The Fort."

"I felt compelled to set the record straight on the state’s financial incentive programs and provide information on the built-in safeguards the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) utilizes to protect the public interest," says Tim Lizura, president and chief operating officer for the EDA, in the monthly newsletter produced by the Fort Monmouth Economic Redevelopment Authority (FMERA).

Earlier this month, Oceanport Councilman Joseph Irace spoke out publicly against FMERA's alleged wooing of the borough's second-largest employer to relocate to fort property in Tinton Falls.

Lizura disputes Irace's assertion that CommVault will win financially regardless of whether the company creates the 225 jobs it's been required to produce.(Lizura' full statement can be found in the attached FMERA newsletter.)

The EDA president also takes issue with Irace's claim that FMERA "poached" CommVault from Oceanport.

According to Irace in a follow-up e-mail to Patch, "Nothing that Mr. Lizura writes counters anything that I wrote.  In fact, no matter HOW or WHY CommVault moved from Oceanport to Tinton Falls, 'FMERA didn't attract business from outside the area to come to Monmouth County'."

Irace also wonders who will keep track of jobs being created, and whether there are parameters around the types of jobs and how long they need to remain in the state.

"While it sounds nice that other employers and investors from around the United States will follow the lead of a 'market leader' like CommVault, there is a dearth of actual data to support this claim," says Irace.

"Will the retention of this employer really have any impact on businesses from other states coming here?" he adds. "The available national data on this topic suggests not."