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Selection Of New Mayor Expected Within Next Week
By Catherine Snipe
The next mayor of Brick Township will take office in January.
Bur for now, a subcommittee continues to interview three candidates to replace Joseph Scarpelli, who resigned as mayor in early December.
Those candidates are former Mayor Daniel F. Newman Sr., former Councilwoman Kimberly Casten and Planning Board Chairman Dan Kelly.
Municipal democrats quickly provided three candidates to replace the outgoing Joseph Scarpelli, who resigned earlier this month, in hopes the mayor could be picked this year. As of press time, however, the subcommittee was continuing to set up interviews of the candidates and had not yet named a replacement.
Council President Anthony Matthews joins council members Ruthanne Scaturro and Michael Thulen on the subcommittee tasked with interviewing the candidates. Matthews said that while all three individuals are well known in town, the council should better familiarize itself with the candidates before selecting a new mayor for the coming year.
Though each are or were active in Brick government, none of the three have served on the council during Matthews’ service, he said.
Newman served on the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority and was a mayor and board of education member in town; his 2005 ended turbulently in the wake of an alleged billing snafu at the BTMUA. Kelly is the current planning board chairman. Casten is a former councilwoman; after losing in the 2003 council election, she was appointed as Brick’s municipal prosecutor.
Under the law, the council has until January 7 to pick Brick’s next mayor.
The council will hold its last meeting of the year on December 29, quickly followed by a reorganization in January 1. That reorganization is the last meeting scheduled before the January 7 deadline.
Because Scarpelli was a Democrat, the three candidates are all Democrats, too, as state law requires.
Scarpelli cited personal reasons for his sudden departure in early December. While rumors have circulated abut what those reason be, for his part, Scarpelli has remained silent on the issue since his resignation, as have Democratic officials.
Scarpelli, 67, was mayor for 13 years before resigning. His terms saw Brick welcome the Summerfest concert series, add open space acreage and top the safest cities in America list. However, Scarpelli also came under fire for using a township vehicle for a personal vacation, and speculation remains that the resignation could be related to the multi-year FBI investigation into township government, which had FBI subpoena documents this year.
With the resignation, Virginia Lampman, the township clerk, is serving as the acting mayor in the interim.
The term of the appointed mayor will last through 2007. Brick’s next mayor will be elected in the November 2007 election.
Michael Blandina, chairman of the municipal Democrats, said the appointed mayor will not necessarily be the candidate in the 2007 election. He said the names on the list were chosen for their immediate familiarity with township government. The faces may well change as Election Day 2007 draws nearer.
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