ALLENTOWN – Thomas Fritts, who is currently serving as president of the Allentown Borough Council, has won his first four-year term as mayor.
According to results posted by the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, Fritts (413 votes) defeated Greg Westfall (333 votes) in the Nov. 5 election. Westfall is serving the final year of his first term as mayor.
The results of the election are unofficial until they are certified by the county.
Fritts, who will be sworn in as mayor in January, has served on the council since January 2017. He has also served on the Planning Board, the Public Safety Committee, the Personnel Committee, the Ashby Park Committee, the Sewer Committee, the Traffic Committee and the Streetscape Committee.
Fritts and his family have resided in Allentown for 10 years. He is a director at Community News Service.
In his campaign, Fritts said he would address several issues as mayor, including the preservation of open space on Allentown’s borders; completing a waste water treatment plant project on time and on budget; focusing on traffic calming and pedestrian safety; and reducing the tax burden by 10% through newly negotiated contracts, implementation of sustainable practices, reducing waste and cutting wasteful spending.
In addition to the mayor’s position, there were two three-year council terms on the ballot. Four residents sought the two council seats.
Thomas Braunworth and Martha Johnson ran with Westfall on the Allentown First Committee ticket. Daniel Payson ran with Fritts on the Allentown Together ticket. Democratic Councilman Rob Schmitt was seeking his third term on the council.
As of Nov. 11, Johnson (361 votes) had won a council seat. Payson (345 votes) and Braunworth (345 votes) were tied for the second council seat. Schmitt had 318 votes.
On Nov. 12, Monmouth County election officials were scheduled to count provisional ballots that were cast at polling places on Election Day. It was not known if there were any provisional ballots from Allentown, or if a recount would be needed to break the tie between Payson and Braunworth.
Regarding the outcome of the election, Fritts said “As mayor-elect, I would like to thank the residents of Allentown for giving me this opportunity and believing in me. Serving as mayor is truly an honor I fully embrace.
“A special thank you to my running mate Daniel Payson. Danny is fully committed if given the opportunity and I know he will be great.
“Congrats to longtime resident Martha Johnson and to Will Borkowski for winning a (Upper Freehold Regional School District) school board seat.
“I would like to thank Mayor Westfall and Councilman Schmitt for their years of service. My hopes are they consider serving in another capacity and I look forward to having those discussions with them.
“Elections bring out the worst and best in all of us. I look forward to a brighter day as we turn the page and move forward together. Time to get to work,” Fritts said.