By:Brian Shappell
Planning Board member Frank Antisell says he intends to resign before next week’s board meeting, but the Township Council has already begun the process of dismissing him from his post.
Mr. Antisell said Wednesday he is leaving the board because of increased family and career commitments, including the birth of twins, his job transfer from Verizon’s office in New Brunswick to Clifton in Passaic County, his pursuit of a master’s degree in technology management and recent family illnesses.
"We recently had twins," Mr. Antisell said. "Between work and home, I haven’t had time. (There have been) too many time constraints."
Though Mr. Antisell said he was in the process of finishing his resignation letter before a death in the family last week caused a delay, Mayor Debra Johnson pushed the Township Council to begin the process to remove him from the board.
Ms. Johnson said the board cannot afford to have erratic attendance because of a backlog of work. She also said another member of the board is close to being dismissed because of poor attendance, but decline to identify the second planning board member.
"(Mr. Antisell) has attended two-and-one-half meetings this year," Mayor Johnson said at Tuesday’s Township Council meeting. "We can’t have a board functioning with a member who is not attending."
Frank Antisell dropped out of the 2000 race for Township Council in September because of his mounting personal responsibilities. He was chairman of the Planning Board at the time.
Charles Carley, South Brunswick chairman of the Democratic Municipal Organization, ran unsuccessfully in Mr. Antisell’s place.
Mr. Antisell said he believed Mayor Johnson’s decision to go after him publicly, without notification, was inappropriate.
"It would have been nice if she or someone from her staff would have contacted me rather than do it in public," Mr. Antisell said. "It goes along with a numbers of things she’s said and done this year."
However, Mayor Johnson said she spoken with Mr. Antisell about a possible resignation several times throughout the last six months. She also said Mr. Antisell told her in January he was going to resign then, but changed his mind.
"If there was another way to do this, we would," Mayor Johnson said. "We went this route because we had no choice."
Councilman Edmund Luciano defended Mr. Antisell at the meeting for his poor attendance.
"It’s not because of a lack of regard," Mr. Luciano said. "This person is just stretched to the limit."
