Toubin will leave Freehold council seat
Longtime official saying good-bye to town after 60 years
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

After almost a quarter-century of serving Free-hold Borough residents, Councilman Michael Toubin was expected to step down from his seat on the Borough Council on Sept. 19.

Toubin told the News Tran-script he is moving from the borough to Monroe Township, Middlesex County.

Because the vacancy oc-curred after Sept. 1 of the next to the last year of Toubin’s term, whoever is appointed to fill the vacant seat will serve on the council until Dec. 31, 2006, which is the date that Toubin’s present term would have expired.

After living in the borough for the last 60 years, Toubin, 63, of Hance Boulevard, said he and his wife of 14 years, Anita, 62, will be changing their life-style and moving to an adult community in Monroe Township. Toubin said he is looking forward to enjoying all the amenities in his new community.

Toubin said the couple’s plan to move to an adult community originally included their dearest friends Linda and Stanley Trott, of Manalapan, who were killed in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in Secau-cus on March 10, 2004.

Toubin said that after 18 months, he and his wife feel it is now time to move on and that they will take the memory of their dearest friends with them to their new home.

Toubin began his community service with the Freehold Borough Board of Education in about 1982 and served for seven years. He said he ran for a seat on the board because he wanted to make sure his children received a good education without having to be sent to private school.

He said he served on the board’s negotiating team for employee contracts and also worked on the school calendar. Toubin said he took particular interest in the school calendar and became aware that borough schools were not closed for the Jewish High Holy Days. He said he was instrumental in bringing about a change that saw borough schools close for those holidays.

His political career with the council began when he was asked to run for office in 1988.

Toubin said his response was “Who would vote for a Jewish Democrat in this town?”

He said he was asked if he would run on the Republican ticket. Toubin said although he had always been a member of the Democratic party, he changed his party affiliation to Republican and won a seat on the council, taking office in January 1989. In the second year of his second term, he switched his affiliation back to the Democratic Party.

Toubin chuckled as he remembered a cartoon that appeared in the News Transcript depicting his change of party. He said the artist drew Clark Kent walking into his famous telephone booth and changing into Superman. Toubin said he was drawn alongside Superman entering his own phone booth as a Republican elephant and coming out as a Democratic donkey.

Toubin served on the council’s finance committee since taking office in 1989 and sat on the Planning Board for the last four years. He has also been the council’s representative to the Freehold Center Partnership and to the Board of Health.

Mayor Michael Wilson said council members will be sorry to see Toubin leave office.

“He has been an excellent public servant for many years,” Wilson said. “He has dedicated a great deal of his life to public service and he should be commended for that. We’ll miss him and we wish him well.”

Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said she had a special bond with Toubin because they were running mates over the years. She also remembers serving on the school board with Toubin.

“I have always respected his business acumen and have looked to him for guidance based on his experience in the business field. I certainly will miss him,” Shutzer said.

Toubin said he plans to be involved in his new community, as he was in Freehold Borough, although admittedly not as much. Anita is now retired from Provident Savings Bank, where she was vice president of commercial lending. Toubin still co-manages Toubin Realty with his brother, Jerry.

According to information provided by the borough, within 15 days after Toubin’s resignation the municipal committee of the Democratic Party must present the council with the names of three nominees for the position.

The council has 15 days after that to select one of those nominees fill the vacant seat.

If the council fails to appoint one of the nominees within that time frame, the municipal committee of the Democratic party will have 15 days to appoint one of the nominees to fill the seat .

If the municipal committee fails to submit the names of the nominees within 15 days after Toubin’s resignation, the council may then appoint a successor within the next 15 days, from the same political party which had nominated the incumbent whose office has become vacant.