By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — Kevin McEvoy, a now former member of the Board of Education, has been appointed the 31st mayor of East Brunswick.
“Who would have thought that I would be given this opportunity as I made my way through my professional career as a teacher and a coach, culminating in this level of public service which many agree is our highest calling?” McEvoy said during the Feb. 8 Township Council meeting.
The council voted unanimously to appoint McEvoy to serve the remainder of former mayor David Stahl’s term, which expires at the end of the year. Stahl recently accepted a position as a municipal judge in Woodbridge.
Going into budget season, the newly appointed mayor remarked that keeping taxes stable is high on his priorities.
“I think it’s taxes, what people have in their paycheck and what they’re allowed to do with it,” McEvoy said when asked what the biggest issue facing the township was.
“That is paramount when it comes to everybody in town. What’s in people’s back pocket is really significant,” he said.
The former school board member, flanked by his family as well as state Sen. Peter Barnes III (D-Middlesex), was sworn in by Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (D-Middlesex), who also offered a written statement supporting McEvoy’s appointment.
“I am confident that he will display the same passion and dedication to the job that he showed while serving as a member of the East Brunswick Board of Education,” wrote Pinkin, who herself was a member of the East Brunswick Township Council.
McEvoy was one of three names put forward by the township’s Democratic party, along with Deborah Conavaca and Edward Janzekovich.
According to party Chairman David Lonski, it is still unknown if McEvoy will be the party’s candidate to run for mayor in November.
McEvoy resigned his seat on the East Brunswick Board of Education on Feb. 8, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Victor Valeski. Now, the question for the board is who will replace him.
“It’s the board’s decision. They will post the position and they’ll interview candidates. So, it will be a board selection for that person to serve the remainder of Kevin’s term,” Valeski said.
McEvoy though, according to the superintendent, will be hard to replace.
“We’ll miss Kevin. He’s been a contributor to the board. I know that he’s always contributed to the dialogue and always had the best interest of the school district at heart,” Valeski remarked.
Since Stahl resigned on Jan. 13, Township Administrator James White had assumed the role of acting mayor until the council selected a replacement.
At the Woodbridge Township Council reorganization meeting in January, council members voted to appoint Stahl as their fourth municipal judge.
According to John Hagerty, communication officer for Woodbridge, the township is appointing another judge to alleviate a backlog of cases which he estimates at around 16,000. The township plans on instituting afternoon court sessions, since it currently only has morning and evening sessions.
Stahl was first elected mayor in 2008 and won re-election in 2012 as a Democrat. in 2013 he switched party allegiance and became a Republican, running an unsuccessful campaign for a state Senate seat that year against Barnes.