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A petition filed last month that could lead to a shift in Asbury Park’s government will need support from 15 percent of the total number of voters who cast ballots in the 2017 general election, city officials have confirmed.

Filed by the Committee For A More Equitable Asbury Park, the petition proposes a shift in the current form of government to a three ward system, each represented by a council member. The remaining two seats would be elected at large, one of which would be the the Mayor, according to the Committee’s attorney Renee Steinhagen, executive director of New Jersey Appleseed Public Issues Law Center.

In a separate question, the petition calls for a shift to partisan elections, thereby doing away with run-off elections and reliant on choosing candidates via Democratic and Republican primaries.

Previously both the Committee members and the City reported only 10 percent was needed but after review by Municipal Attorney Fred Raffetto, it was determined that 15 percent is needed. According to the N.J.S.A. 40:69A-25.1 and N.J.S.A. 40:69A-185, the change may be made via referendum, which sparks the 15 percent requirement.

But Steinhagen maintains only 10 percent is needed.

“I disagree with that,” she said. “I haven’t seen what their attorney is claiming but both questions are considered to be initiatives.

“We are not changing the form of government,” she said citing 40:69A-25.1. “I’d like to see that position in writing because you can change the election structure.”

According to City officials, the Committee has until Wednesday to submit the needed number of support signatures and would have 10 more days to cure any discrepancies; meaning obtain more registered voter support signatures if needed.

The petitioners were immediately notified that an additional 136 qualified signatures would be needed to move their petition forward, Mayor John Moor said.

“It was the right thing to do,” Moor said in a telephone interview. “They were told by the City that they needed a certain number. To wait until the 15th when we found out on the 9th is not being transparent and could be interpreted as voter suppression and disenfranchisement in my eyes.”

Resident Felicia Simmons, who signed on as the affidavit of circulator, said they submitted over 500 signatures and would be turning in more prior to the deadline.

Both Simmons and Committee spokesman Tracy Rogers said they made sure to recertify all signatures, meaning they filed new voter registration forms for any signatures that could be called into question, ie due to recent change in address. Those new voter registration forms were dropped off at the Monmouth County Board of Elections Office at the end of last week.

Rogers said the Committee For A More Equitable Asbury Park is comprised of a group of 25.

Current Form Of Government

Asbury Park is governed under the Faulkner Act’s Optional Municipal Charter Law Mayor-Council form of government.

Voters resoundingly approved the current form of government in 2013, following nine months of vetting by an elected Charter Study Commission, comprised of Pam Lamberton, Michelle Maguire, Rita Marano, Duanne Small, and Randy Thompson.

At the time, the commission rejected splitting the city into wards, each represented by a council member. Small was the sole vote for the ward system and  Thompson abstained.

Today, a directly-elected mayor and council serves staggered four year terms, with a lack of majority votes sparking a runoff election one month later.

Mayor John Moor and Councilman Jesse Kendle are up for reelection in November.

Wards

If put to the voters in the November 6 election and passed, the creation of ward system would spark an election race next year, Steinhagen said.

Members of the Committee For A More Equitable Asbury Park said the ward system was proposed to help empower the community.

“I have nothing against the present City Council and I feel they have done a great job and taken the City to a whole different place,” petition supporter Bill Stevens said. “I feel they have listened to the concerns of people from all different parts of the city and made priorities based on what they thought was best. I do not place any nefarious motives on their decisions. So I do not personally believe this is a referendum on the present City Council.”

“We want to empower this community and make it more equitable for everyone that lives here,” Rogers said. “We don’t have personal feelings against anybody, we are making a decisions based on data.”

Rogers said the Committee’s vetting of the municipality’s 17 boards and commissions showed a lack of equitable representation. He said while African-American and Hispanic residents make up more than more than 75 percent of the city’s population, there is no equitable representation.

“The west side has been neglected for the entirety of this town’s history,” Simmons said. “From the great push out of town to the different streets left unpaved, and an unnurtured school system, we are not served at all. There is also an economic need. Asbury Park is the only urban seat in the county. Billions of dollars have been streamlined through the city but it is not shown on the west side. Our needs have never been addressed and there hasn’t been any growth for the people of the west side. This will allow for a louder voice, a direct representation. The needs of the people have to be addressed on a large level or we will continue to be left behind.”

Stevens said he believes a shift to a ward system would help bring more people into the democratic process.

“I personally believe the ward system would bring more people into the process if they could feel heard by bringing their concerns to their representative, and have the confidence their concerns would be brought to the table,” the 10 year long resident. “There are many people who feel they do not have an avenue for doing this.”

Partisan Election

Simmons, a former Board of Education member, said shifting to a partisan election process would help do away with disenfranchisement.

“Living in this town and seeing the election process and the disenfranchisement, we have not had any party support,” she said.  “We can’t talk about people getting purged from the voter process on the national level if at the local level we don’t have the same standard. We are voiceless because it seems like the local people do not value us. We are registered voters, we are a democratic town looking for representation. We are part of the bigger mainstream and we deserve for our voices to be heard. We are actually the only blue town of this kind in Monmouth County, which is run by Republican Freeholders. We are a part of a bigger mainstream and tapestry in search of justice in America. We are a small microcosm of what is happening globally, the difference is we are small enough to fix it if we truly want to.”

But Stevens disagrees.

“I personally would like a non-partisan format to continue because of the toxic divide present in our country,” the Asbury Tower resident said. “By announcing you are a Republican or a Democrat would immediately label you and we would no longer listen to your proposals in an unbiased way.  It is just the way it is.  I don’t see any advantage in making it partisan.  I honestly do not know the political affiliation of any member of the City Council nor do I care.”

Residency

A second petition submitted by the Empower Asbury Park committee would require municipal employees live within city limits. That petition, which is being put forth as an initiative, requires only 10 percent support signatures.

The Empower Asbury Park Committee is comprised of some of the same members in the Committee For A More Equitable Asbury Park group, with a few slight variations, Rogers said.

Simmons and Rogers have said the residency mandate was the brainchild of James Famularo, who perished in a July 9 fire at his Park Avenue home.

Simmons said Bradley Beach, Neptune, Ocean Township and Wall have similar guidelines in place.

“It is standard custom,” she said. “To make decisions for the place where you live gives you a better buy in. When the decisions that you make directly affects your wheelhouse, you make those decisions differently. Those who came 10, 15 years ago through the great migration are now priced out; they can’t afford to live here. What kind of city are we building, what is it going to be if we continue to let this happen. We are all going to be the lost tribe of Asbury soon.”

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