BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — The newest member of the Borough Council claims that she does not like to sit home at night.
For that reason and in order to give back to the town she has enjoyed living in for 32 years, Councilwoman Tanis Deitch seized the opportunity to join the governing body.
Deitch, who was selected and sworn to her seat to succeed recently resigned former Councilman Joseph DeLisa on April 13, believes she can handle the issues that have arisen in town since Feb. 22. That was the date when her predecessor and former Mayor Paul Zambrano were arrested on charges of bribery as part of an FBI corruption sting.
As a practicing family law attorney based in Eatontown for over 10 years, Deitch, a Democrat unanimously chosen by the Republican-led council to fill the spot vacated by DeLisa on March 15, is accustomed to dealing with crises for a living.
“I’m an attorney. I handle problems all of the time,” said Deitch, 60, after the council’s brief special meeting where her selection over two other nominees offered by the West Long Branch Democratic Organization was sealed.
Deitch, who was previously named to the borough’s Planning Board, Environmental and Shade Tree commissions by Zambrano, was chosen by the other five council members over local attorney Jeffrey Resnikoff and Thomas Manzo, a recently retired lieutenant of administration with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The recent arrests of Zambrano and DeLisa, and their subsequent resignations, have left many of the town’s residents reeling, a scenario that is understandable, Deitch acknowledged.
“That’s history. You can’t control that,” she said of the two ex-officials’ arrests.
However, now that both she and newly selected Mayor John Paolantonio, a Democrat who was chosen April 1 to fill Zambrano’s office until Dec. 31, have come on board, Deitch hopes even the most skeptical residents will give them a chance.
“Both John and I are happy to fill in and put things back on the right course,” Deitch said. “I’m a very calm person. I can handle problems.”
A longtime member of the local Democratic Party, Deitch, of Muncy Drive, unsuccessfully ran for the council in 1998.
Deitch thanked her five colleagues on the council for choosing her and for supporting her bid for the vacancy created by DeLisa’s March 15 resignation.
“They gave me a lot of encouragement,” she said.
As part of her duties, Deitch will chair the council’s fire and first aid squad committee, and serve on the public works and police committees.
DeLisa’s unexpired, three-year term was due to end Dec. 31, 2006.
Come November, a special election will be held concurrently with the general election to fill that remaining year. On April 11, Resnikoff was the sole candidate to file a petition to run for the seat now held by Deitch, according to Borough Clerk Lori Cole .
Meanwhile, Deitch has her sights set on a three-year term now that two council seats held by Republicans are opening up.
The decisions by veteran Councilwoman Janet W. Tucci to challenge Paolantonio in November’s special election for the mayor’s unexpired term, and by Councilman William J. Boglioli not to seek re-election have opened up those opportunities for Deitch and three other contenders.
The other candidates to file petitions to seek both three-year terms are Barry Pollack, also a Democrat, and Republicans Christopher Neyhart and J. Thomas DeBruin, Cole confirmed.
Like Paolantonio, Deitch agrees that revising the borough’s master plan to include three specially designated areas for construction of housing limited to persons over age 55 would be beneficial to the town.
Currently, West Long Branch does not offer housing for residents over age 55 who have sold their homes in the borough but would like to stay in town near younger family members, Deitch said.
“[People over 55] don’t want to leave the area where they live,” Deitch said. “I have grandchildren. I don’t want to move to Florida. I don’t want to move to Jackson.”
With her new position, Deitch expects to give up the Planning Board seat she has held since Jan. 1.
Specializing in family law, Deitch is a member of the New Jersey and Monmouth County bar associations, and presided over the Women Lawyers in Monmouth County group in 2001-02.
She is a member of the bar in both New Jersey and New York, having received her law degree in 1993 from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
Husband Malcolm, Deitch’s spouse of 40 years, stood at his wife’s side as Cole swore her in to office.
Deitch also volunteers with 180, Turning Lives Around of Hazlet and is vice president of the Jewish Community Center in Deal.
“I can’t sit home,” she said of her volunteer and civic activities.