SEA BRIGHT — Joseph W. Oxley was appointed borough attorney at the Feb. 3 Borough Council meeting and will replace longtime public servant Scott Arnette.
Oxley, former Monmouth County sheriff, is with the law firm Scarinci & Hollenbeck, which has its main office in Lyndhurst. He is also the Monmouth County Republican chairman.
Arnette, a Sea Bright resident, served as a councilman prior to his appointment as borough attorney.
Democratic Mayor Maria Fernandes’ reappointment of Arnette at the January reorganization meeting was voted down by the council, which now has a Republican majority.
The Republicans then had 30 days to submit alternate names for the position.
Despite Oxley’s appointment, Arnette will continue to serve the borough. He was appointed special litigation counsel at the meeting.
“[He is] no longer the borough attorney [but] he has been hired to finish off the lawsuits he has been fighting on behalf of Sea Bright,” Councilwoman Dina Long said in an interview last week.
Long said those lawsuits include the beach access suit with the state, a Planning Board case and a personnel case.
She said Oxley will be paid at the same rate as Arnette.
Fernandes said it makes more sense to keep Arnette on for the cases he has been a part of for years.
“He’s got the history, and again I think it would be foolish on the Republican part to really flip it over to Joe Oxley because it would cost us double the amount of money [because Oxley would have to] research everything from scratch,” Fernandes said.
Matthew J. Giacobbe, who also works at Scarinci & Hollenbeck, was appointed borough labor attorney.
Giacobbe served as borough labor attorney when Republican Jo-Ann Kalaka- Adams was in office, prior to Fernandes.
Kathleen Sheedy was reappointed as borough prosecutor and John Lane was appointed alternate borough prosecutor.
All of the resolutions for professional appointments went through unopposed with a 4-0 vote. Two members of the council were absent as was Fernandes.