New council sworn in.
By: Leon Tovey
JAMESBURG A new year, a new Borough Council sort of.
The Borough Council swore in incumbent council members Barbara Carpenter and John Longo Jr. and elected Councilman Otto Kostbar as council president at its reorganization meeting Wednesday night.
Ms. Carpenter and Mr. Longo, both Democrats, were elected to new, three-year terms in November, staving off challenges by Republicans Adam Bushman and Darren Larsen.
Ms. Carpenter received 995 votes and Mr. Longo received 980, while Mr. Bushman received 863 votes and Mr. Larsen received 723.
Mr. Kostbar, the outgoing chairman of the Finance and Budgeting Committee, also replaced Ms. Carpenter as the new police commissioner. Mr. Kostbar will be replaced as chairman of the Finance and Budgeting Committee by Mayor Tony LaMantia.
Mr. Kostbar, who served as president of the council in 2002, said he was excited about serving as president again even though the council presidency is a somewhat supplementary office in Jamesburg’s weak-mayor, borough council government.
"Mostly, I’ll step in for the mayor in the event that he’s absent," Mr. Kostbar said. "The last time I was president, the biggest thing I got to do was to perform a wedding."
Mr. Kostbar, who will face re-election this year, said he’s also excited about his new role as police commissioner. He praised Ms. Carpenter’s work as commissioner and said he would carry on with her efforts to add more police officers and equipment without increasing property taxes.
"There’s lots of pressure on our police force particularly with traffic now so if it’s possible to add more manpower and equipment, we will," Mr. Kostbar said.
For her part, Ms. Carpenter said she expects Mr. Kostbar to be an effective police commissioner.
Ms. Carpenter said one of her primary goals in her second term will be to bring commuter bus service to the borough. She said she would meet with representatives from Suburban Transit in the coming weeks in the hope of making that goal a reality.
Mr. Longo, who was replaced as chairman of the Personnel and Negotiations Committee by Councilman Joseph Jennings, was appointed chairman of the Committee on Education. He is a former South Brunswick school administrator. He was also reappointed as the council’s liaison to the Land Use Board.
Mr. Longo said that in his second term he would continue to work with the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to market Jamesburg as a good place to do business. He said he would also continue to pursue grants for the borough’s improvement projects.
Councilman Chris Maloney, the outgoing chair of the Committee on Education, will replace Joseph Jennings as chairman of the Committee on Public Works. He will continue as chairman of the Committee on Technology.
Councilman Carlos Morales, who will also face re-election this year, will continue as chairman of the Committee on Public Safety/Emergency Services.

