FREEHOLD – Margaret Rogers has been appointed to the Borough Council to fill a vacant seat on Freehold Borough’s governing body.
During a meeting on Dec. 17, council members tapped Rogers to succeed Councilman Jaye Sims, who is resigning from the governing body on Dec. 31. Rogers will serve the final year of the term to which Sims was elected in November 2016.
Following Sims’ recent announcement that he was stepping down from the council, the Freehold Borough Democratic Party offered the names of Rogers, who is a member of the Freehold Borough K-8 School District Board of Education, and Adam Reich, who chairs the Freehold Borough Planning Board, as potential successors.
After the names of Rogers and Reich were received by the council, Councilman Michael DiBenedetto nominated Rogers to fill the upcoming vacancy. The motion was seconded by Councilman George Schnurr and approved by DiBendetto, Schnurr, council President Sharon Shutzer and councilmen Kevin Kane and Ron Griffiths.
In voting “yes” to appoint Rogers, DiBenedetto said, “I would also like to thank the individuals who did not get the acceptance for stepping up and taking on a role of this magnitude and putting your name in.”
Griffiths said, “It’s nice to have more than one person putting in for these kind of positions and it was a very difficult decision.”
Mayor Nolan Higgins also thanked those who offered to fill the unexpired term on the council.
“We want to thank all those who expressed an interest in serving and it’s nice to have a good pool to choose from,” he said. “We thank everyone who was involved in the process.”
Rogers, who has lived in the borough for 26 years, thanked the members of the governing body for giving her the opportunity to serve on the council.
“I want to thank the council and the mayor for their vote of confidence,” she said. “My commitment to you all and to the town is to do my best, to uphold the laws of this town, to consider all of the individuals who live in this town and to keep this a wonderful town.”
Rogers will be sworn in on Jan. 6 during the borough’s reorganization meeting. She will step down from the school board, of which she has been a member since 2013.
Rogers will join the Borough Council alongside her fellow school board member Annette Jordan, who is also leaving the board to serve on the council following her election to a three-year term in November.