A view of Wednesday’s Charter Study Commission meeting. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents would vote on whether a “council-manager” form of municipal government should be implemented under an agreement by the Charter Study Commission last week.
If approved by voters in a referendum expected in November, the change would would replace the management structure in place since the borough’s creation in 1908.
Red Bank residents will have an opportunity next week to weigh in on the effectiveness of the borough form of government in place locally since 1908.
By JOHN T. WARD
A half-dozen residents weighed in Tuesday night on Red Bank’s form of government and how people get elected to it.
Among the commenters at a Zoom session of the Charter Study Commission were several who like the idea that council members can make things happen at the department level.
Ziad Shehady at borough hall in February, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See CORRECTION below
By JOHN T. WARD
Eight months after he ended a stormy stint as Red Bank’s top unelected official, Ziad Shehady is scheduled to offer his perspective on how well the town’s government works Wednesday night.
Attorney Michael Collins, left, on the dais with Chairwoman Nancy Facey Blackwood. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After two preparatory sessions, the Red Bank Charter Study Commission expects to begin digging into its task on January 13.
In the interim, the five-member citizen’s body has a “homework” assignment.
Commission members, from left: Mike DuPont, Nancy Facey-Blackwood, Ben Forest, Kate Okeson and Mark Taylor. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Authorized by borough voters earlier this month, the Red Bank Charter Study Commission has scheduled its first meeting.
Clockwise from top left: Mike DuPont, Nancy Facey-Blackwood, Ben Forest, Mark Taylor and Kate Okeson. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
CLARIFICATION: This article reported results as of 11 p.m. on election day, and the outcome may change as mail-in ballots are counted.
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank voters went with four of five slate candidates in the borough’s historic election for charter study commission Tuesday.
But first, they said “yes,” overwhelmingly, on whether the study should take place.
Eleven Red Bank residents are running for five seats in this year’s election for charter study commission.
See what they had to say about the issues – and their qualifications to tackle them – in these Q&As with redbankgreen:
Scott Broschart
Mike DuPont
Nancy Facey-Blackwood
Ben Forest
Jesse Garrison
John Gosden
Aimee Humphreys
John Jackson
Kate Okeson
Mark Taylor
Tom Wieczerzak
In addition, check out the voter resource guide below, with information on the public question that would authorize formation of the commission.
On the ballot in November: whether to review Red Bank’s form of government, and who should do it. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
It’s official: Red Bank voters will have 11 candidates to choose from when they elect a five-member charter study commission in November.
Also on the ballot: a referendum on whether the study itself should be conducted.
Mike DuPont, right, riding with law partner and former mayor Ed McKenna in the Red Bank centennial parade in 2008. (Photo by John T. Ward and Chris Ern. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
UPDATE: After publication of this article, redbankgreen learned that John Jackson filed a petition with the borough clerk for a candidacy Tuesday afternoon. This update also adds John Gosden as a resident known to be gathering petition signatures.
Former Red Bank councilman Michael DuPont has made the November election for charter study commission a race.
DuPont told redbankgreen he filed his candidacy petition Wednesday morning, making him the sixth declared candidate for a seat on a five-member body.
Running as a team, clockwise from upper left: Nancy Facey-Blackwood, Mark Taylor, Kate Okeson, Scott Broschart and Ben Forest. (Photos by John T. Ward and Chris Ern. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five self-described “forward-thinking” Red Bank activists have united in pursuit of seats on Red Bank’s charter study commission in the November election.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, upper left, addressing the council during its meeting via Zoom Wednesday night.(Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A push for a possible change in Red Bank’s form of government cleared its first formal hurdle Wednesday night.
The borough council, sharply split on other issues, unanimously agreed to the introduction of an ordinance that would put a two-part public question on the November ballot: whether a commission should be created to review the borough’s 113-year-old form of government, and if so, who should serve on it.
Authorization of the charter study, and all five seats on it, would be on the November ballot if the council follows through on Wednesday’s informal vote. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[Updated to include borough attorney memo on charter review timeline.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council informally agreed Wednesday night to have voters decide whether the borough’s form of government should be reviewed for possible overhaul.
The unanimous action by the council, all Democrats, could eventually lead to nonpartisan elections, watering down the party’s long dominance of municipal government.
Kathy Horgan with fellow Democrats and council members Ed Zipprich, center, and Michael Ballard in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Again taking aim at their own party’s chairman, four Red Bank council members and Mayor Pasquale Menna have called for a charter study to review the borough’s form of government – and possibly, change the electoral process.
Retired teacher Barbara Boas, center, was one of seven borough residents named to a study commission last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mayor Pasquale Menna’s so-called blue-ribbon commission to review a proposed doubling of enrollment at the Red Bank Charter School will hold a public hearing Friday, weather permitting.
The meeting, booked for the Red Bank Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m., was announced in an alert from borough hall Tuesday evening, a day before charter school parents were expected to hold their own meeting on the expansion plan.
Protesters marched from the middle school to borough hall in freezing weather. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents hoping to slow or halt a proposed doubling of enrollment at the Red Bank Charter School got help from the borough council Wednesday night.
After an estimated 200 parents, children, district employees and others marched in frigid weather from the middle school to borough hall, the council adopted a resolution asking the state Department to delay a decision on the charter school endeavor.
Chairwoman Nancy Facey-Blackwood at the Charter Study Commission’s final meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents will decide whether to give the town’s governmental structure an historic overhaul following action by the Charter Study Commission Tuesday night.
Adopting its final report en route to dissolving itself, the commission made one last tweak to the November referendum, calling for run-off elections in cases where no candidate wins a majority of votes.
Ben Forest outside Sickles Market last September. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Lamenting the “unpleasantness” of Red Bank politics in recent years, Charter Study Commission member Ben Forest made a tearful plea for nonpartisan elections Wednesday.
The commission’s other four members informally agreed. They also began sorting through alternatives to the borough form of government in use since the town was carved out of then-sprawling Shrewsbury Township in 1908.
Marlboro Mayor John Hornick, in highlighted pane, was among the five municipal officials from two counties interviewed about forms of government by the Red Bank Charter Study Commission Tuesday night.
A screengrab of Wednesday’s meeting, held via Zoom. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An online public forum held Wednesday night by Red Bank’s Charter Study Commission was brief, as only two residents chimed in.
But more have weighed in by email, according several commission members. And one consistent theme is that residents don’t want an appointed mayor, they said.
By JOHN T. WARD
Wednesday night’s meeting of the Red Bank Charter Study Commission focussed on forms of government available should the commission recommend a change from the “borough” structure in place since 1908.
Voters may get to decide in November on a new form of government. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As the Red Bank Charter Study Commission heads into a public hearing on the first phase of its work Tuesday night, this much is clear: partisan elections are in the crosshairs.
Mark Taylor, center, grilled two sitting councilmen, including Michael Ballard, bottom right. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Aggressive questioning of two current council members by a former councilman marked a special session of the Red Bank Charter Study Commission Thursday night.
Appearing as the final witnesses for phase one of the commission’s review, both Ed Zipprich and Michael Ballard defended the borough form of government in place since 1908, and recent changes to shift power away from the town’s unelected administrator.
Councilmen Michael Ballard, left, and Ed Zipprich at borough hall last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On deck to testify at a special session of the Red Bank Charter Study Commission Thursday is Democratic party chairman and Councilman Ed Zipprich.
Also slated to sit for an interview is Councilman Michael Ballard, a Zipprich ally on the fiercely divided but all-Democratic governing body.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, top left, and Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center bottom, participated in commission interviews via Zoom Wednesday. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mayor Pasquale Menna on Wednesday joined a growing parade of current and former Red Bank officials who have identified “interference” by council members as one of the borough government’s foremost problems.
In stunning testimony before the Charter Study Commission, Menna also was one of three Democrats who laid blame for local government “dysfunction” squarely on their own party.