JEFF GRANIT staff Robin Sayko (l) and Arlene Albano, Long Branch, dance in the hallway at Monmouth Medical Center while singing Christmas carols to patients and staff. Sea Bright Mayor Gregory W. Harquail extended an invitation to borough residents to attend the Borough Council’s annual organization meeting at Borough Hall on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 10 a.m., at which Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams will be sworn in as the new mayor. Harquail, who did not seek re-election, said a reception will follow the meeting. Also being sworn in to new terms are Councilman William J. Keeler and Councilwoman Dina Long.
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The mayor and council of Shrewsbury will hold their annual organization meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, at which Councilmen Terel Cooperhouse and Don Burden will be sworn in to new terms. That will be followed at 8 p.m. by the regular meeting of the mayor and council that would normally be held on that day. An executive session will follow the regular meeting to discuss negotiations, contracts, possible litigation and personnel.
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JEFF GRANIT staff Krystal Moebus, 3, receives a card from Santa Claus at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s “Head Start” Christmas party.
Mayor Suzanne S. Castleman of Little Silver will be sworn into her second full three-year term as mayor at the Borough Council’s annual organization meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5. When she first became mayor, she served out an unexpired term, after Mayor Anthony Bruno resigned, before running for the office in her own right. Councilmen David Gilmour and Jonathan H. Bitman also will be sworn in to new terms on Jan. 5.
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Isidora Grieco was hired by the Shrewsbury Borough Council at its Dec. 15 meeting as a part-time administrative assistant to acting Borough Administrator Thomas X. Seaman. Seaman was the borough’s chief financial officer/tax collector when appointed as acting business administrator in October for a six-month period, and continues to hold that post along with his new position.
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Little Silver residents are invited to apply to the Red Bank Regional Board of Education to fill a vacancy on the board for a borough representative. The vacancy is being created by the departure of Dr. Robert Morgan, who was just elected to the state Assembly in November and is leaving the board so he can devote more of his attention to his new legislative duties.
Morgan’s term runs through April 2005. The person appointed to replace him will serve on the board of a four-month period from January through April 2004, when school elections are held. If that person wishes to continue on the board, he or she will have to stand for election for his remaining, unexpired one-year term. In April 2005, a full three-year term will be on the ballot.
The deadline for filing a letter of application and a resume is Jan. 9.
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Eatontown Police Chief William Barnshaw has selected the top two candidates to fill two new positions for police officers, according to Councilman Charles E. DaVis.
DaVis, the council’s liaison with the police department, reported at the Dec. 17 meeting of the Borough Council that the field of candidates had been narrowed to two, both of whom have been through the police academy and currently are working as law enforcement officers.
DaVis said Barnshaw also has decided whom he would like to hire to fill a vacancy as a Special II officer, but is still reviewing applicants for a dispatcher vacancy.
Barnshaw said once the council makes its decision on whether to hire the two persons he is recommending for the police officer positions, they would need to give two to three weeks notice to their respective departments, and then would have a month to a month-and-a-half of patrolling with another officer to get acquainted with the town, after which they would work on their own.
The council’s Police Committee will meet to review and possibly interview the leading candidates before the council votes on the appointments.
The Eatontown Police Department currently has 35 sworn officers, including the chief. The new additions would raise that number to 37.
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Both the Eatontown Borough Council and the West Long Branch Borough Council will hold their annual organization meetings at noon on New Year’s Day in their respective Borough Halls. At the Eatontown meeting, Councilmen Charles L. Riddle and Charles E. DaVis will be sworn into new terms.
At the West Long Branch meeting, Councilmen Richard F. Cooper Jr. and Joseph DeLisa will be sworn in to new terms.
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The Eatontown Board of Education has a new interim school business administrator, Kenneth Sommerhalter. He came aboard on Dec. 10 to work with the outgoing interim school administrator, Sam Siciliano, for a total of 10 hours through Dec. 23, when Siciliano left to move to North Carolina. Sommerhalter, who now is working full-time, retired in 1999 from Red Bank Regional High School where he served as business administrator for 18 1/2 years. He lives in Jackson.
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Two vacancies on the Monmouth Beach Planning Board have been filled. The Borough Commission, at its Dec. 9 meeting, appointed Brian Sheprow to fill the unexpired term of Michael Petrone, to run through Dec. 31, 2004, and appointed James Brower to fill the unexpired term of Philip Rosenbloom, to run through Dec. 31, 2005.
Both Sheprow and Brower had been alternates to the Planning Board. Petrone and Rosenbloom recently died.
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The Monmouth Beach Commission also has approved the purchased of a new fire truck. The commission accepted the bid of $336,743 from Central Jersey Fire Apparatus of Manasquan.