Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

FAIR HAVEN: BOROUGH ATTORNEY REPLACED

greg-cannon-041217-2-500x375-4872633Greg Cannon, Fair Haven’s new borough attorney, at a Red Bank council meeting in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot-topic_03-220x138-9108919Now in the majority, Fair Haven’s Democrats swapped out the longtime borough attorney Monday night.

On a bipartisan vote at the annual municipal reorganization meeting, conducted via Zoom, the council replaced Sal Alfieri with Greg Cannon, who also serves as borough attorney in neighboring Red Bank.

sal-alfieri-fred-heyer-051319-500x332-1692091Sal Alfieri, left, at a council meeting in May, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

With the addition of Laline (pronounced ‘lah-leeny’) Neff to the council, the Democrats hold the governing body majority for the first time in memory.

A newcomer to local politics, Neff was elected in November with incumbent Chris Rodriguez. Both outpolled incumbent Susan Sorensen, a Republican who ran solo in pursuit of a fourth consecutive term.

Rodriguez was sworn to his second term, and Neff to her first, at a ceremony on Friday.

No reason was given for replacing Alfieri. “We don’t comment on appointments,” Rodriguez told redbankgreen when asked why the change was made.

According to borough Clerk Allyson Cinquegrana, Alfieri had been borough attorney for 15 or 16 years.

Alfieri, a founding partner of the Matawan-based firm, Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, is not completely on the outs. He was retained as special attorney and as tax appeal attorney. In addition, one of his partners, Matthew Giacobbe, was designated labor attorney.

Cannon thanked the council for the appointment.

“I look forward to working with Sal. I know he’s not going very far, which is good – his office is actually right up the highway from mine,” he said. “And so that institutional memory will exist.”

Cannon is a principal in Sobel, Han & Cannon. A partner in the firm, Andrew Sobel, is a Fair Haven resident who serves on the borough planning board.

He also has strong party ties.

Cannon was appointed Red Bank’s borough attorney in January, 2017, when the first Republican majority in a generation collapsed after just a year and Democrats regained control.

Since 2009, he has served as a councilman in Aberdeen, where he’s chairman of the Democratic party executive committee, according to the Sobel firm website. He’s also the borough attorney in Allentown, where Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is the prosecutor; borough attorney in Bradley Beach; and borough attorney in Roosevelt.

In other business during the 18-minute-long reorganization, the council chose Rodriguez as its president, a ceremonial position.

The governing body also recognized Kevin Countryman as 2021 chief of the volunteer fire department. His leadership team will include Deputy Chief Timothy Morrissey, First Assistant Richard Brister Jr., and Second Assistant Matthew DePonti.

If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a paying member. Click here for details about our new, free newsletter and membership information.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
BUTTERFLIES LOVE THE WEED
Save the monarch, plant butterfly weed. (photo and text by Partyline contributor Roseann DalPra)  
LANTERNFLY PARTY
An invasive ailanthus tree sprouting in front of the US Post Office on Broad Street is covered with invasive spotted lantern fly nymphs Wedn ...
STREETCORNER SERENADE
An Irish doodle named Cheddar listens to native New Jerseyan, singer/songwriter and former Houston resident Tom Foti, (identified in the hea ...
Red Bank 5K Fun!!!
Red Bank Classic – June 14th, 2025 (photo by Partyline contributor Adam Kaplan)  
RAINBOW OVER RED BANK
Saturday, before and after the storm that rolled through town. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)    
Mini Ballers Bring the Heat at Fusion Basketball School
As the temperatures heat up, so does the competition in the mini baller clinic at Fusion School of Basketball. These little tykes are intens ...
DOZENS OF PLEIN AIR ARTISTS “PAINT RED BANK”
Plein air artists take over town for first ever "Paint Red Bank" event. (click to read)
RED BANK: SIGN ON ICONIC DANNY’S STEAK HOUSE COMES DOWN
The sign hanging from the shuttered Danny's Steak House comes down ten months after a manager reported Danny's Steakhouse would be back "bet ...
FOR YANKEES FANS, GOOD TRASH PICKIN’
A collection of framed photographs of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and other New York Yankees greats was placed curbside along with a ...
RED BANK: NEW HANDICAPPED PARKING, WEST SIDE MEETING PLANNED
New handicapped parking sign West Side advocate had pressed for is installed, with meeting planned to discuss other concerns. (click to read ...
SUNSET AT SUMMER’S START
Crazy sunset clouds shot from Monmouth Boat Club on the Friday evening at the start of Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. ...
SIDEWALK GOES FROM WORST TO FIRST
P (photo by Brian Donohue) What had been, in our estimation – and apparently in the eyes of the several people who have emailed and te ...
RED BANK: PEERING FROM ON HIGH, ACROSS THE DECADES
Roofers on the Azalea Red Bank top off the project in the shadow of a sculpture depicting another generation of construction workers who toi ...
BRICK FACELIFT CONTINUES ON MONMOUTH STREET
A million-dollar brick sidwalk makeover of Monmouth Street in Red Bank continues.
JAY AND SILENT EAGLE
A very loud blue jay squawks at an indiferent bald eagle in a treetop alongside the Swimming River in Red Bank this week. (Partyline photo b ...
PIZZA LOVING SQUIRREL SPOTTED IN RED BANK
Pizza squirrel spotted in Red Bank. (click to read)
GET YOUR MA SOMETHIN’ NICE AT THE RED BANK FARMERS MARKET
It’s a beautiful and sunny Mother’s Day for the first instance of the farmer’s market, held every Sunday, beginning in May ...
SIGN? WHAT SIGN?
Folks in Red Bank Wednesday exercising their riparian rights to access tidal waters first encoded into Roman law in 500 AD and later adopted ...
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Partyline contributor captures photo of backyard fox.
STRIPER RUN AT MARINE PARK
An angler pulls in a striped bass from the Marine Park bulkhead Tuesday evening. (photo by Partyline contributor Boris Kofman)