Rumson and Fair Haven Elections 2024: What You Need to Know

As people go to the polls to vote in Rumson and Fair Haven on Tuesday, there are some facts about the boroughs’ governing bodies and their function and history that may have eluded many.

So, the notion in mind that an informed voter is a better voter, here are some facts that may enlighten and inspire at the polls:

Forms of Government

Rumson and Fair Haven are both run under what is dubbed the Borough form of municipal government in New Jersey. There are several forms. While it may seem like a given that since Fair Haven and Rumson are both boroughs, the form of government follows suit with that name. It’s not.

The Borough form of government is partisan, meaning that borough council members are affiliated with their particular party and elected on that partisan ticket. This form of municipal government is also a “strong” council, “weak” mayor form of government. This means that the mayor does not vote, except in the case of breaking a tie among council members.

The mayor also has veto power over ordinances (which are, essentially, borough laws). His vetoes, however, are subject to what is termed an “override” by a council two-thirds majority vote. The mayor also chairs, or runs, the meetings. The mayor, too, has the power to make professional appointments and liaison assignments to council members with the advice and consent of council.

Each council member serves as a liaison to a particular department or organization within the borough to affect better communication between departments/organizations and the governing body.

The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.

Borough council members are elected to serve three-year terms on a six-member council dais in a completely volunteer capacity. They are not paid a cent to serve. The mayor serves in four-year terms and is elected separately as terms expire.

What happens when a borough council member must resign/retire?

If a borough council member must resign or retire due to emergent circumstances or a move and cannot complete their term on the dais, the governing body must fill the position within 30 days. The replacement, who is chosen from a pool of candidates nominated by the borough party organization (Democrat or Republican, depending on the party affiliation of the council member leaving), serves out the remainder of the term.

Note that the resigning elected official must be replaced with someone of the same party affiliation.

The person who was appointed must run in the November election to either complete that term as an officially elected official; or, depending on the seats up for grabs, can opt to run for a full term and run a newer candidate for the shorter, unexpired term.

In Fair Haven in 2024 …

Two Republican incumbents are running for reelection to fulfill long-term projects, target new projects and address contentious new matters, while two Democrats, one a newcomer to the race, look to bring new voices, increased transparency and political balance to the dais.

Fair Haven has long had a Republican-dominated borough council, with Democrats in more recent years winning seats.

With two borough council seats up for grabs this election, incumbents, Republican Fair Haven Borough Council President Betsy Koch and Councilwoman Tracy Cole are vying for third and second three-year terms on the dais. Challenging them are Democrats Neil Blecher, who ran last year with now-seated lone Democrat on council, Michal DiMiceli. Blecher lost his first bid for a council seat and is running again, now with newcomer to the race, Paul Dante Frissora.

The major issues in Fair Haven are: affordable housing, the facilities upgrades, zoning and revisiting the Master Plan, brush collection, garbage and recycling and maintaining quality of life at the riverfront and dock (and its contentious new restrictions aimed solely at fishermen and crabbers).

About Fair Haven

Fair Haven is a roughly 1.6-square mile borough with about 6,000 residents, most of them families and homeowners. The last U.S. Census report indicated that more than 70 percent of the residents of Fair Haven are married couples. There are roughly 1,700 families.

About Betsy Koch and Tracy Cole …

The Koch-Cole team has long touted maintaining the quality of life in the borough and keeping taxes stable.

While taxes in Fair Haven have been characteristically high, the municipal rate has largely remained relatively flat with a reduction for 2024 boasted by Koch and Cole. In the state of NJ, property taxes fund the schools. It’s often unrealized that the schools rate comprises as much as more than half of what appears on the tax bill. School budgets are separate from municipal.

Betsy Koch, a more than 45-year Fair Haven resident and retired 24-year Fair Haven schools seventh and eighth grade science and math teacher, has followed her late husband’s legacy in serving on council. Her husband, Jerome Koch, who passed away suddenly in 2014 after succumbing to injuries in a bike accident, served on council for three terms as well as various committees in a volunteer capacity. Betsy is now seeking her third full term on the dais.

Currently serving as council president, Betsy Koch is liaison/chairperson of the borough’s Planning Board and vice chair/liaison of the Zoning Board and Police, Fire & OEM, Parks and Recreation committees. She has also served on the Communications and Personnel and the non-profit Foundation of Fair Haven committees and helped to spearhead the Wall of Honor installation and updates at Knollwood School.

Her running mate, Tracy Cole, is seeking her second three-year term on council. As a council member, Cole serves as liaison/chairperson of Engineering & Public Works and Zoning Board of Adjustment committees and vice chair of Borough Facilities. She has served on the Fair Share Housing and Communications committees. She also serves on the Historic Association of Fair Haven, Garden Club and served on the borough’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Committee. Cole is also a board member of the Monmouth Conservation Foundation.

A former Red Bank RiverCenter executive director, Cole has extensive experience in the revitalization of downtown districts in communities, such as Red Bank, preservation and landscape architecture. community planning, design, real estate, and marketing.

About Neil Blecher and Paul Frissora …

Challenging Koch and Cole for the two council seats are planning board and Brush and Leaves Collection Committee member Neil Blecher and political newcomer Paul Frissora. The team’s publicized aim is keep community traditions in focus while offering new ideas and faces on the dais and increased transparency, accessibility and bring political balance to the council dais. Council member Michal DiMiceli is currently the only Democrat on the governing body.

The team’s campaign platform: a “pledge to uphold community traditions while bringing fresh thinking and transparency to (our) council.”

Blecher is an attorney who is aiming to bring checks and balances to the council with more even party representation.

Frissora is a lifetime Fair Haven resident who graduated from Knollwood School and RFH and has expressed a desire to give back to the community in which he grew up . He is a geospatial analyst who is a former seasonal Department of Public Works employee in Fair Haven.

“I grew up in Fair Haven, and I understand what makes this town great; whether it’s being able to walk back and forth from the Fireman’s Fair at the end of the summer or being able to bike around Fair Haven Fields in the early spring,” Frissora posted on social media. “As people who would love to be here in the future, Neil and I have ideas on how to continue to improve Fair Haven’s liveability that we would love to both share with you and hear your input on. It’s this input that Neil and I feel is central to our campaign. We know that there has been frustration in our community about the transparency of our local government, whether regarding decisions about brush pickup and those gray cans, or new regulations on what you can and cannot do at our town dock. We will work tirelessly to include all of our neighbors in these conversations, and we’ll work just as hard to make sure that the Council’s work is for the betterment of 𝗔𝗟𝗟 of Fair Haven!”

The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. All districts in Fair Haven are to report to Church of the Nativity Community Room, 180 Ridge Road, to vote.

In Rumson in 2024 …

It’s rare for Rumson elections to be contested. This election is no exception.

The council has historically maintained a Republican majority, or all-Republican. With two seats up for grabs, the Republican current incumbent council members whose seats are up for grabs are running again. They are: Sarah Pomphrey and John J. Conklin III.

There are no Democratic challengers.

Pomphrey is seeking her second three-year term on council. Conklin, current council president, is seeking his fourth term, having served since 2015.

The polls are open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Here’s where in Rumson …

Editor’s note: You may have noticed that R-FH Retro’s candidates’ Q&As are absent this election. At R-FH Retro we, in true professional journalistic form, strive to ensure balance in coverage. Local election coverage is a big part of that goal.

Take a moment to read and process our position …

Traditionally, the press has served as a watchdog for the public, fielding questions in candidate interviews that target issues critical to the towns candidates are vying to serve. Accessibility, transparency and accountability are at the core of an elected official’s work.

In years past, in traditional newsrooms, Q&As were not the method chosen for candidate coverage. Interviews were conducted via telephone or in person and candidates used those interviews as opportunities to answer to the public they strove to get elected to serve. They, 99 percent of the time, responded to requests for interviews — and usually immediately and according to the journalist’s (very busy) schedule, not theirs. It was their opportunity to let the public get to know them via a skilled, unbiased professional.

With the advent of social media, candidates’ accessibility to journalists’ election interviews waned. Unfortunately, many, not all, candidates started to feel as if they didn’t need or want to respond to interview requests, as social media had become their public relations venue and they didn’t need the newspaper interviews upon which they used to respect and rely on heavily.

The problem with that is that there is a big difference between public relations and election coverage and news. True journalistic news coverage of elections has an invaluable benefit to the voters. The social media opportunity for candidates is great, but it is just that — social media and public relations, not balanced news coverage. In public relations, there’s no accountability, it’s just about promoting what you want to promote only rather than analysis and vetting of pertinent facts and issues via specific answers to pertinent-thought-out questions.

Traditionally, and rightly so, when there’s no response for a requested interview, the rule is three attempts and then a “refused to respond” is recorded.

In an effort to make things easier for candidates, journalists started creating election questionnaires tailored to the issues of each town and facts about the candidates’ backgrounds. We worked diligently to create the most interesting, effective questions, seeking thoughtful, specific answers to the public politicians serve.

Through the questionnaires, candidates were afforded an opportunity to answer within a period of a few days to a week. Going back several years, candidates were generally pleased with the opportunity and thankful for the chance answer the questions over the course of a few days rather than answer on the spot in an in-person interview — one chance.

Unfortunately, in more recent years, some candidates started balk over not having weeks or even as much as a month to answer and some even blatantly stated that they had no time and were “too busy” campaigning and “running the town.” Others didn’t even respond. All of that was very disheartening and much of our time was also wasted on carefully-crafted, thoughtful, insightful professional candidates’ questionnaires that, when answered with as much thought and care, benefitted the voting public that those candidates strove to have the opportunity to serve.

So, in light of the disinterest and disregard that created an inadvertent imbalance in coverage, the decision this election was made to not offer the questionnaires, as they were not taken as seriously as they should have been — or flat-out dismissed.

We would like to thank the past candidates who, in the past, were diligent, respectful and thoughtful about answering our Q&As. Thank you! The voting public thanks you! And to those who have supported R-FH Retro and its endeavors on the whole, and advertised we extend our sincere thanks. We always offered to both sides and until recent years, both sides always advertised. But, while advertising is completely separate from the election coverage, it offered a true public relations opportunity in addition to interviews that supported for hyperlocal journalism as well. Thanks to those who have advertised!

Accessibility is key to the role of a true public servant. Remember that. Thank you and best of luck to all the candidates. The work is volunteer; to all those who serve and are running, your dedication, regardless of side or issues, and efforts are to be applauded.