Politics & Government

Potential Councilmen Denied Appointment to Vacant Seat

Some council members and potential candidates called the decision to leave a seat open until November 'shameful.'

An empty seat on Mahwah’s township council will remain open until the November election, votes taken by the six currently serving township council members indicated Thursday night.

The council denied two candidates who had been nominated to temporarily replace retired Councilman John Spiech – Jonathan Marcus, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the council last year, and Rob Hermansen, a former Mahwah Councilman and Bergen County Freeholder.

All current council members voted against appointing Marcus. Three of them, Lisa DiGiulio, Chuck Jandris, and Harry Williams, cited their opinions that the seat should be left open until the election.

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Three councilmen, Roy Larson, John Roth and Steve Sbarra, voted in favor of appointing Hermansen. The 3-3 tie vote was broken by Mayor Bill Laforet’s no vote.

The council also denied a third candidate, resident Bob Lockwood, who Larson nominated at the meeting after the other two candidates had been voted down. Lockwood also received a 3-3 tie vote that was broken by the mayor’s no vote.

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Three other candidates who put in applications to be on the council were not voted on because they had not been nominated for the position.

Emotions ran high at the meeting after several council members and candidates expressed their dissatisfaction with the votes.

Roth called not putting an interim councilperson in the seat a, “shameful development,” and said it was a result of, “the absolute worst of politics…in Mahwah.”

Roth went on to say that 3-3 tie votes were what he was trying to avoid by voting to fill the seat.

Hermansen addressed the council during the public session of the meeting, saying that he found the vote, “very offensive,” and told the council not voting in a seventh member was a, “seriously big mistake on your part.” 

Hermansen blamed behind-the-scenes politics on not getting voted in, citing DiGiulio’s initial decision to nominate him for the position, and subsequent decision to withdraw the nomination. The two argued during the meeting as to the motivation for her decision.

Hermansen said he “will definitely look into running [in November],” pending approval from his job. “This town needs someone who actually tries to do the right thing.”

Marcus also told Patch he plans to run for the open seat in November.

“I respect the decision of the council to not fill the seat, I was flattered to be nominated in the first place,” he said. “I look forward to running in the fall.”

The election in November will determine who will fill Spiech’s seat for the rest of his term, which ends at the end of 2014.

Deputy Town Clerk Jan Fox announced at the meeting petitions to run for the position would be available at town hall starting Friday morning.

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