The BOE Votes: Mancuso Loses FH Bid for Third Term

By Elaine Van Develde

Fair Haven Board of Education President Mark Mancuso has lost his bid for re-election, leaving contenders Bennett Coleman, Michelle Buckley and Charlie Jakub filling the three seats up for grabs on the nine-member board.

Mancuso first came to the board by filling an unexpired term five years ago. He will be finishing the end of his second full term on the dais by the year’s end.

The highest vote-getter in the election, which brought out 3,299 voters, was Coleman, with 847. Buckley garnered 655 votes and Jakub 632, according to the unofficial tallies of the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.

Five vied for the three seats. In addition to Mancuso, Marisa Coar did not win her bid for election. She won 615 votes, or roughly 19 percent, while Mancuso had the least amount of votes cast on his ballot — 540, or about 16 percent.

There were 10 write-ins.

Rumson

The race for three board seats in the Rumson School District was uncontested.

Three ran for three seats.

With a total of 1,595 votes cast, John Connors got the highest number of votes, 533, or more than 33 percent. Charles ”Chuck” Jones III won 532, or just more than 33 percent. And Margaret Simons got 514 votes, or 32 percent, the vote tallies of the Clerk’s Office said.

There were 16 write-ins.

Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School

With three seats up for grabs, only two incumbent candidates ran uncontested to fill them.

Lourdes Lucas and Sarah Maris (both representing Fair Haven) won new terms with 874 and 869 votes, respectively.

Teresa Liccardi, M.D., Rumson representative, did not seeking re-election.

So, there will be an empty seat to be filled.

There were 55 write-ins for that seat.

 

Fair Haven Votes: GOP Incumbents Keep Seats

By Elaine Van Develde

Republican incumbents kept their seats on Fair Haven Borough Council by a comfortable margin, with 2,339 votes cast, or more than half the estimated 4,000 registered voters in the borough.

With newcomer Democrat Shervyn von Hoerl vying for one of the two three-year governing body terms up for grabs, a win for him would have put a long-unprecedented two Democrats on the dais.

He did not succeed. The challenger, von Hoerl ended up with 621 votes, or nearly 27 percent of the vote.

The high vote-getter in the race was Councilman Eric Jaeger, with 876, or more than 37 percent.

Jaeger’s running mate Robert Marchese won his third term to council with 834 votes, or roughly 36 percent.

There were eight write-ins.

Fair Haven’s form of government is a Borough Council form. In this form of municipal government, there are six council members with three-year terms and a mayor with a four-year term.

While the mayor presides over meetings, he does not vote, unless to break a tie.

The mayor does, however, have veto power.

 

Rumson Votes: Ekdal is Mayor Again, Uncontested Council

By Elaine Van Develde

Familiar challenger Michael Steinhorn tried again, but did not succeed in ousting longtime Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl.

With 864 votes cast in the mayoral race, Ekdahl ended up with 565 of them, or more than 65 percent.

Steinhorn, a Democrat who has long attempted to break the longtime Republican stronghold on the governing body, garnered 294 votes, or 34 percent.

There were five write-in candidate votes.

Ekdahl will begin his fourth four-year term as mayor in January.

Incumbent Republican Borough Councilmen Marc Rubin and John Conklin won uncontested three-year seats on the dais, garnering 623 and 629 votes, respectively. A total of 1,276 votes were cast for the council race.

There were 24 write-ins.

Rumson is run with a Borough Council, or Mayor and Council form of government.

As with Fair Haven, the governing body has six council members and a presiding mayor. The mayor runs the meetings, but does not vote unless there is a tie.

He has veto power.

 

Rumson Police Investigate Halloween Burglaries & Attempted Break-ins

As they investigate Halloween night burglaries and attempted break-ins, Rumson police are putting residents on alert and offering cautionary advice.

Homes on Buttonwood and Conover lanes were burglarized; and signs of attempted forced entry to residences on Navesink and Bellevue avenues were reported, according to a release.

At the homes on Navesink and Bellevue, glass doors were reported broken with a rock, police said. No entry was obtained in either of those instances.

The perpetrators are still at large.

In the meantime, “we ask that residents utilize their alarms and keep the outside of their homes well lit,” the release said. “Notify the dispatch desk at 732-842-0500 or dial 911 in an emergency to report suspicious persons or vehicles 24 hours a day.”

The Rumson, Fair Haven and Rumson-Fair Haven Board of Ed Ballots

Voters are going to the polls today to decide who is returning to the Board of Education dais in each of three school districts between Rumson and Fair Haven.

Each of the nine-member boards in the Rumson, Fair Haven and Rumson-Fair Haven districts has seats up for grabs.

Here’s what to expect at the polls:

Continue reading The Rumson, Fair Haven and Rumson-Fair Haven Board of Ed Ballots

On the Borough Council Ballot in Fair Haven

With two Fair Haven Borough Council seats up for grabs, a lone Democrat is vying to oust one of two Republican incumbents.

Those GOP incumbents are Robert Marchese and Eric Jaeger. The last time the two ran on a ticket together was the year Hurricane Sandy hit — 2012. Marchese is seeking election to a full third three-year term. Jaeger, who began serving in 2012 to fill an unexpired term, is seeking a full second.

Continue reading On the Borough Council Ballot in Fair Haven