Question for committee: Who wants to be mayor?
Answer will be revealed at Manalapan meeting Jan. 7
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

Probably the biggest item on anyone’s “got to know” list, municipally speaking that is, is who will be selected as mayor for 2007 when the Manalapan Township Committee holds its annual reorganization meeting at 1 p.m. Jan. 7.

Under Manalapan’s Township Committee form of government, the five members of the governing body choose a person from among themselves to serve as mayor for the year. The person selected as mayor runs the committee meetings but has no more power than the other four members of the committee.

A deputy mayor is also elected on reorganization day.

In many cases the mayor is selected along party lines by the party that controls the committee. The issue will be a bit more complicated in Manalapan this year because the committee includes two Republicans, two Democrats and one member who is serving as an independent.

In advance of the reorganization meeting, the News Transcript asked all the members of the committee the same question: “Would you like to serve as mayor?”

Committeeman Anthony Gennaro, who was elected as a Democrat but later declared that he would serve as an independent, said, “No. It wasn’t something I was even thinking about. I just want to concentrate on my work as a committeeman.”

Republican Committeeman Joseph Locricchio also said no, partly for the same reason as Gennaro stated, but with some additional observations regarding how the mayor is chosen.

Locricchio said, “I’ve already been deputy mayor. It doesn’t matter to me who gets to bang the gavel. What really matters to me are the appointments. I’m more concerned with who’s going to be appointed as our professionals. Who is going to be township administrator. Who is going to be township attorney, the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority representative. Who will serve on the Office of Emer-gency Management and the various board appointments.”

Locricchio also noted that due to the fact the mayor is selected by the committee members and not elected by voters, being mayor in this form of government does not carry the same mandate as being directly elected by residents.

“Unfortunately, the people don’t get to choose the mayor. It (serving as mayor) would mean more to me coming from them,” he said.

Democratic Committeeman-elect Richard Klauber also said he did not have a mayoral appointment on his present wish list, but he did not rule it out for the future.

“I need to earn my stripes. I haven’t served on the committee yet. You really need to earn it. I haven’t yet. In the future, we’ll see what happens,” said Klauber, who will be sworn in to begin his three-year term on Jan. 7.

Democratic Committeewoman Michelle Roth and Republican Committeeman Andrew Lucas said they would welcome the opportunity to serve as mayor.

“It would be an honor to serve as mayor of Manalapan,” Roth said, adding, “whether as mayor or not, it is my job to do the best for the residents of Manalapan and as a committeewoman it is also my responsibility to ensure that Manalapan is never led by people who have a hidden agenda.”

Lucas’ response was, “I would be honored to serve as mayor or deputy mayor.”

The key question that remains for the Jan. 7 meeting is who will get the votes needed to be elected to the position of mayor.