LAWRENCE: Council split on how to fill vacancy

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Republican Township Councilmen Bob Bostock and Rick Miller plan to boycott a special meeting tonight to interview the three Democrats who have been nominated to fill a vacancy on Township Council, which was created by the resignation of former Mayor Mark Holmes earlier this month.
    The Lawrence Township Democratic Municipal Committee nominated former Township Councilman Greg Puliti, former Township Council candidate James Kownacki and political newcomer Bernadette Gur to fill the opening. Under state law, the new member must belong to the same political party as the person who resigned.
    In a Dec. 28 letter to Democratic Township Council members Pam Mount and Michael Powers, the two Republican councilmen wrote that they disagreed with “the timetable and the process” that Mayor Holmes — who is a Democrat — proposed at the council’s Dec. 16 meeting.
    At the request of the two Republican councilmen, their Democratic counterparts agreed that the four sitting members would interview the nominees in a closed-door meeting and then vote in open session. Mayor Holmes set the date for Dec. 30 — three days after his own resignation took effect.
    “(The process) does not allow for sufficient time for deliberation or proper consideration of the merits of the three nominees. There is no compelling reason not to take the time to do this right,” Mr. Bostock and Mr. Miller wrote.
    The Republican councilmen proposed that each candidate submit a resume and 750-word “statement of candidacy” by Jan. 7. They proposed interviews with the candidates in open session. Each interview should take at least one hour at a special meeting scheduled between Jan. 12 and Jan. 16, they said.
    The appointment would be made at Township Council’s Jan. 20 meeting — seven days before the state-mandated Jan. 27 deadline to fill the vacancy. State law requires a vacancy to be filled within 30 days after it was created.
    Ms. Mount, who is serving as interim mayor until Township Council reorganizes, said the Lawrence Township Democratic Municipal Committee felt it was important to fill the vacancy before the council’s Jan. 1 reorganization meeting.
    “If it were May or July, it might be fine (to delay for 30 days),” Mayor Mount said. But the Democratic council members wanted to expedite the process so the new member could be sworn in at the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting so that person could participate in making appointments that day, she said.
    Mr. Bostock and Mr. Miller know the three candidates, Mayor Mount said. Mr. Puliti served three terms on Township Council with Mr. Miller, and Mr. Kownacki ran against Mr. Bostock, she said.
    Ms. Gur serves on the Route 1 Business District Redevelopment Committee, whose Township Council liaison is Mr. Bostock, and on the Lawrence Township Municipal Alliance on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, whose liaison is Mr. Miller, she said.
    “I don’t know what this posturing is all about,” Mayor Mount said. “Mr. Bostock wanted to have an opportunity to meet the candidates and speak to them. We agreed to that, but not all that other stuff (in the Dec. 28 letter). Hopefully, they will change their minds.”