BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH –– Like a soap opera in which characters come and go, a new cast member has joined the Borough Council.
Actually, Councilman-elect Christ-opher Neyhart was due to take his seat on the council dais on Jan. 1. But circumstances resulting from the Nov. 8 election in which Neyhart won his first three-year council term have allowed the newcomer to get a head start on his public service career.
With his wife Andrea and three young children at his side, Neyhart was sworn in by Mayor Janet Tucci during the Dec. 7 council meeting to fill the unexpired seat held up until Nov. 18 by the mayor herself.
Neyhart subsequently took Tucci’s former seat, sitting next to Councilwoman Barbara Ruane, who was also recently sworn to her duties on Nov. 18.
A local real estate salesman, Neyhart will hold that seat until Dec. 31, the date on which that office expires.
On the next day, Jan. 1, Neyhart will again be sworn in to his full, elected three-year term.
“I’ll be resworn in,” Neyhart remarked after the meeting.
For the next few weeks at least, Neyhart will take over Tucci’s former appointment to the borough’s Shade Tree Commission.
With Neyhart’s seating, the council now has a full component of six members with a 5-1 Republican majority.
Tucci, also a Republican, votes only to break ties.
In another interesting turn of events, three of the four Republicans who handily defeated four Democrats, including former Mayor John Paolantonio and former Councilwoman Tanis Deitch, on Nov. 8 are now seated on the council, just a few weeks before the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting.
Tucci, Ruane, Neyhart and Councilman-elect Thomas DeBruin were all victorious over Paolantonio, Deitch and fellow Democrats Barry Pollack and Jeffrey Resnikoff.
While DeBruin’s name was one of three put forward by the West Long Branch Republican Municipal Committee to fill Tucci’s unexpired term, the councilman declined the appointment due to upcoming vacation plans later this month.
“I won’t be here for the next meeting [on Dec. 21],” said DeBruin, sitting in the first row in the council chambers. “I’m going to Arizona to see my grandchildren.”
As for Tucci, she started her first meeting as mayor by acknowledging Paolantonio for his nearly eight months of service in borough hall.
“I’d like to thank John Paolantonio who came forth to serve as mayor until a mayor could be elected,” Tucci said.
Councilman William Boglioli, a Republican who will leave office on Dec. 31, also expressed gratitude to Paolantonio and Deitch.
“I’d like to thank John Paolantonio and Tanis Deitch for coming in and serving at a difficult time,” Boglioli said.
Last spring, the council chose Paolantonio and Deitch to succeed former Mayor Paul Zambrano and ex-councilman Joseph DeLisa, respectively, after the latter pair resigned following their Feb. 22 arrests on federal charges of extortion.
Zambrano has since confessed to the charges and is awaiting sentencing at a date to be determined. DeLisa has maintained his innocence.
Paolantonio and Deitch took their positions on an interim basis until the Nov. 8 election in which borough voters selected Tucci to be mayor and Ruane to complete what had been DeLisa’s term.
Once the election results were certified, both Tucci and Ruane were sworn to their offices on Nov. 18. The two women are expected to serve in their offices until Dec. 31, 2006, and are eligible to run for re-election next November.
In other business, on the advice of Boglioli, who serves as borough police commissioner, the governing body hired Matt Guido, a special officer and dispatcher in the municipal police department, to begin work as a full-time, probationary police officer on Jan. 1.
Guido will begin training at the Monmouth County Police Academy in Freehold Township next month.

