Fried, council incumbents win with pro-development platform
by David Kilby, Special Writer
ROBBINSVILLE — On Nov. 5, Robbinsville residents gave a thumbs up to their mayor and council by reelecting all three incumbents by a definitive margin.
According to the unofficial poll results released by Robbinsville’s municipal clerk office Tuesday night, incumbent Mayor David Fried won the mayoral election with 2,259 votes while his challenger, Councilman David Boyne, received 1,561. Councilwoman Sheree McGowan and Councilman Vince Calcagno garnered 2,048 and 2,364 votes, respectively, while challenger Dennis Shennard received 1,595 votes.
Mayor Fried said he is “extremely grateful” that the residents let him continue to serve the township.
”We ran a positive campaign,” he said. “We focused on our record. I believe politics has become more about tearing down (the opponent) than talking about what they’re going do. We wanted to run a campaign on what we’ve done and what we plan to do.”
Mayor Fried said over the course of his new term, he and the council plan to fix the Foxmoor shopping center, and pursue a portion of Town Center South to make it into a park.
”This will allow residents of Foxmoor and town center to have a park within walking distance,” he said.
Mr. Boyne thanked all the residents who supported him.
”I’m looking forward to continuing my work on the council for all the residents in Robbinsville,” he said.
Mr. Shennard similarly expressed a willingness to continue to help do what he can to be involved in Robbinsville.
”Obviously I’m disappointed with the results,” he said. “I plan on staying involved with the town and I’ll see what the future brings.”
Councilwoman McGowan attributed the election results to voters’ desire to see Robbinsville continue on the path it’s on.
”There really wasn’t much of a race because the other candidate really didn’t offer anything different,” Councilwoman McGowan said after the polls closed, regarding the council race. “(Shennard) agreed we were doing a good job. I’m just glad the people in town wanted to keep things progressing the way things have been.”
Councilman Calcagno shared similar sentiments.
”The council as a whole is working very well together,” he said while celebrating the victory in Papa’s Tomato Pies restaurant. “Now that we’re reelected, we have to continue that performance. Residents voted for us with the expectation that we’ll do even better. They always raise the stakes.”
In addition to mayoral and council races, three board candidates: Keith Kochberg as well as incumbents Thomas W. Halm Jr. and Matthew T. O’Grady were elected to the Robbinsville Board of Education.
All three candidates ran unopposed.

