Final two charter commission meetings scheduled
New elections next year if voters adopt recommendations
The city’s charter study commission — which has the power to place a referendum on the November ballot changing how Asbury Park organizes its government and municipal elections — has two more meetings scheduled as it grapples with its final recommendations.
The commission [above at its last meeting] has until August 5 to issue its final report on what, if any, changes to the city’s form of government it submits to voters in November. If voters approve the changes, an election will be held next year to pick representatives for the new form of government. The four year term of the city council sworn in on July 1 would be cut short.
The commission’s final two meetings are on Monday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the Senior Center on Springwood Avenue, and on Monday July 29 at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers in city hall on Main Street. Portions of the meeting are reserved for public comment.
The commission has tentatively agreed to ask voters to adopt a “strong mayor” form of government, with the mayor directly elected by voters. The mayor also would serve as the chief executive of the city, with the council becoming the legislative branch. In addition, the commission has tentatively agreed to stagger the terms of officeholders.
The commission also tentatively agreed to keep the municipal elections non-partisan, but to switch them from May to November.
Still at issue is whether to recommend run-off elections. In a typical run-off system, when no candidate receives over 50 percent of a vote in a multi-candidate field, the two top vote getters square off against each other in a run-off election shortly thereafter.
The commission had rejected run-offs but reopened the issue at its meeting last week. On the agenda for the July 22 meeting is a discussion of run-offs with new information presented by commissioner Michele Maguire, who last week asked that the issue be reopened.
Also at last week’s meeting, commissioner Rita Marano spoke against recommending the “strong mayor” system to voters. While she supports recommending a directly-elected mayor, Marano said she prefers a system with a less powerful mayor.
The commission did not vote to reopen that issue.
The city currently has a council-manager form of government. The city manager is the chief executive officer of the government and runs day-to-day operations. The council serves a role similar to a board of directors setting policy, with the city manager as chief executive answering to the governing body.
Currently, the mayor is selected from among the council members with the main duties of the office to preside at council meetings. All five council members are elected together to four year terms in a May non-partisan election.
In a non-partisan election, all candidates run in one column without party affiliations. Asbury currently does not have run off elections, so the top five vote getters win.
The five-member charter study commission was established by voters in a referendum this past November. Voters also select the commissioners, but only five candidates filed to run for the five seats. Those five candidates are now commission members Duanne Small, Rita Marano, commission chairperson Pam Lamberton, Michele Maguire and Randy Thompson [pictured at top, left to right].
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