ALLENTOWN – While the final vote count changed, the results of the race for two seats on the Allentown Borough Council did not as newcomer Michael Drennan and incumbent Councilman Robert Strovinsky won three-year terms on the governing body.
The terms will run from January 2019 through December 2021.
Final results posted by the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office on Nov. 19 showed Strovinsky leading a field of four candidates with 452 votes to win another term on the governing body. Drennan won his first term on the council by receiving 440 votes.
Two first-time candidates, Linda Cotte and Thomas J. Monahan Sr., received 435 and 424 votes, respectively.
The final results include ballots cast at the polls on Election Day, mail-in ballots and provisional ballots. A provisional ballot is cast at a polling location if a question arises about an individual’s voting eligibility. It took election officials 13 days to review and count all ballots.
In the days after the Nov. 6 election, the initial results showed Drennan and Strovinsky each with 438 votes. Monahan had 420 votes and Cotte had 423 votes. Overt the course of two weeks the vote totals changed, but the outcome did not. All four residents ran as independent candidates.
The results showed an independent streak among Allentown voters, who selected one candidate from two teams of candidates running for office. Signs posted around town in the weeks leading up to the election showed Cotte and Strovinsky were running as a team and Drennan and Monahan were running as a team.
Strovinsky said he will “continue to explore options for additional parking for residents and visitors to Allentown with minimal to no cost to our taxpayers. I will tackle the issues we have with the traffic flow … and look at controlling truck traffic … I will continue to support our police, first aid and fire departments by providing them the support they need to secure new equipment to ensure their safety when performing their jobs for our community.”
He added, “I’m glad I was the overall vote-getter in the end and look forward to supporting the whole community and not just certain interest groups.”
Drennan said his “mission as a member of the council will be to ensure fiscal responsibility and transparency in the business of local government. … Further goals include reducing traffic congestion, improving pedestrian safety, maintaining the historic character of Allentown, preserving a greenbelt (undeveloped land) immediately around Allentown, keeping Allentown affordable for lifetime residents, building the waste water treatment plant, and completing the long-awaited parking lot project in the business district.”