Former school board member Angela Garretson won a seat to the township council in June, opening a seat on the school board. The nine-member board unanimously selected [George Cook III] to fill that vacancy on Thursday.
“The reason I originally ran for council was because I wanted a better relationship between the council and board of education,” said Cook. “I still want to better that relationship.” MORE
Joseph Menza will be sworn in as Hillside’s new mayor on July 1 after winning a last-minute recount last week by seven votes.
Menza, who won the runoff election against Councilman Jerome Jewell earlier this month by just one machine vote and several absentee and provisional ballots, will take office at noon on Wednesday, July 1 at the municipal building.
The recount, which was requested by Jewell, resulted in Menza losing one paper vote, which officials said was invalid because of extra markings.
While Menza won the mayor’s office, the council remains under the control of the Hillside Democratic Committee by a veto-proof 5-2 margin.
The council is already flexing its partisan muscle by scheduling the annual organization meeting for 6 p.m. on July 1, four hours after the swearing-in ceremony. In the past, and in most communities, newly elected officials are sworn in during the organization meetings.
After counting provisionals, the unofficial vote totals in Tuesday’s runoff for mayor showed Menza receiving 1,710 votes, eight more than Jewell, an incumbent councilman and Newark police detective who garnered 1,702 votes. MORE
The third time appeared to be the charm for businessman Joseph Menza, who upset Jerome Jewell Jr., the candidate backed by the Hillside Democratic Committee, to become mayor of Hillside last night by a margin of only six votes. . .
The township race attracted statewide attention, with gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker making campaign calls on behalf of Menza and Jewell, respectively. . . MORE
Realtor Joseph Menza is leading Councilman Jerome Jewell by just six votes in Tuesday’s runoff election for mayor and three at-large council seats.
Menza, however, was not able to carry his council runningmates, meaning the Democratic committee will still control all but two seats on the seven-member council.
People in the Menza camp are attributing the council defeat to the “Deo vote.” Councilman Frank Deo, who ran with Jewell, seems to have been popular in some of the same districts Menza won.
The fight, which has included a four-way race for mayor in last month’s nonpartisan election, may not be over. Jewell and the Hillside Democratic Committee may contest a handful of provisional ballots, or votes recorded on paper rather than in the voting machine because of discrepancies with the voter rolls.
Deo leads the council race with 1706, while Angela Garretson got 1663 and President Carlisle got 1571.
On the Menza slate, Joseph Puglise got 1529, George Cook III got 1503 and Jean Miller got 1460.
This is the sixth in a series looking at the campaign literature put out by candidates in this spring’s school board and municipal elections. We’ll take a critical look at the messages and rhetoric and invite readers to comment. Here’s part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.
As a prerecorded message from next-door Newark Mayor Cory Booker endorsing Jerome Jewell played on voters’ phones this weekend, campaign workers were busy canvassing the town with fliers attacking a council candidate running with one of Jewell’s opponents as a wife-beater.
Joseph Menza with Jean Miller, Joseph Puglise and George Cook.
One is concerned about senior citizens. Another about the youth and schools. And the third about everyone else in between who are finding it harder and harder to keep up with the cost of living in Hillside.
Joseph Menza’s team of Jean Miller, George Cook and Joseph Puglise say they should be Hillsiders’ top choice on Tuesday for new leadership at Township Hall.
Depending on which flier or Column A candidate you listen to at any given moment, the Jerome Jewell team — backed by the Hillside Democratic Committee, which currently controls Township Hall — is both the incumbent team and the challenger team; the continue-the-progress team and the change team.
Jewell, who is finishing up his fourth year as an at-large councilman — a position to which he was first appointed in 2005 — has yet to give a single interview in which he explains his stance on the issues.
He has not returned calls from either the Star-Ledger or The Hillsider.
His running mates also did not return calls for interviews, despite promising they would. One of them, President Carlisle, referred questions about his platform and background to his campaign manager, explaining that he was running as team and did not want to make any unauthorized statements.
Sip Whitaker, Beverly Lynn, and Leonard Dupree with Shelley-Ann Bates, seated.
Two former rivals and father who serves on the township Recreational Advisory Council make up the at-large council team led by mayoral candidate Shelley-Ann Bates.
Former school board president Sip Whitaker, former school board member Beverly Lynn and Compton Terrace resident Leonard Dupree say voters should elect them Tuesday to combat Hillside’s high taxes and its government’s lack of concern for residents.
The Local Source newspaper this week endorsed Joseph Menza for mayor and three council candidates, one each from three of the four teams that will duke it out in Tuesday’s municipal election.
Hillside’s problems are both more dire and less complicated than present officials would have the public believe. What has been lacking are some of the most simple elements of good business practice, basic teamwork among council members and strong, involved leadership. Mayoral candidate Joseph Menza and Township Council candidates Angela Garretson, Beverly Lynn and Joseph Puglise will bring those elements to the governing body . . . MORE
Puglise is running with Menza; Garretson on Jerome Jewell’s ticket; and Lynn on Shelley-Ann Bates’ ticket. The paper didn’t mention Andre Daniels’ Team Hillside for Hillside.
At-large council candidates Jeffrey Dykes and Noemi Escobar.
One is a quiet, dedicated housewife. The other a career public servant who doesn’t shy from confrontation on the issues dear to him.
What Noemi Escobar and Jeffrey Dykes have in common is that they they think Hillside property taxes are too high, opportunities for youth here are lacking, and Township Hall needs new leadership — which they hope to provide after Tuesday’s non-partisan municipal election.
Hillside’s embattled political boss needs all the help she can get these days.
That’s why state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Elizabeth, and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, have reportedly set up a legal defense fund for her, according to PolitickerNJ.
Charlotte DeFilippo, the chairwoman of the Union County and Hillside Democratic committees has been under investigation by the State Attorney General’s Office.
Shelley-Ann Bates remembers when a good night’s sleep was a commodity in her neighborhood on the north end of Liberty Avenue.
That was two years ago, when the Ranch Bar & Grill was still open and its often riotous clientele liked to take the party outside at all hours of the night. Residents who slept in the homes surrounding the bar, once located on Liberty Avenue between Oakland and Bernard terraces, were desperate for help, Bates said.
“We complained to the the council, to the [Alcoholic Beverage Control] Board, to the police chief, to the fire chief. Everyone pointed fingers but nobody took responsibility for the situation we were forced to live in,” recalls Bates, a Bernard Terrace resident.
Eleven of the 12 at-large council candidates in next week’s municipal election participated in Monday night’s forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, answering questions about how they would stabilize property taxes, bring businesses into Hillside, and improve communication between the council, mayor and the Board of Education.
The four mayoral candidates, meanwhile, are scheduled to appear at their own forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.
Sandra “Sandy” Cureton, one of 12 at-large council candidates, says she’ll work with anybody at Township Hall to help Hillside.
But until election day on May 12, she’ll be on her own.
Cureton, a 30-year township resident, began her campaign a few months ago on mayoral candidate Andre Daniels’ slate. But on April 20, she announced her independence from “Team Hillside for Hillside.”
The candidate said the break was for a “personal” reason but would not explain her decision. She also said she is not endorsing any other slate and is “not discounting the Daniels slate, either.”
The campaign manager for mayoral candidate Joseph Menza has lodged a complaint against the Hillside Democratic Campaign Committee’s school board slate, claiming they failed to file required finance reports with the state.
In a letter to Election Law Enforcement Commission executive director Frederick Herrmann, Menza campaign manager John O’Shea says the HDCC’s Committee For Sensible School Spending “completely defied the statutory requirements of campaign reporting” despite spending “well in excess of $15,000.00.”
Hillside officials have put up a traffic barrier blocking traffic driving south on Newark’s Bergen Street from accessing Hillside’s Bailey Avenue, according to a report in the Star-Ledger – and Newark is not too happy about it.
Most members of the Hillside Township Council weren’t too happy with the $41.2 million budget before them on Monday evening. Still, they voted 6-1 to approve it.
2009 Budget Revenues by Category
The finalized spending plan will require Hillside taxpayers to contribute $458,822 (1.77 percent) more than they did in 2008. The tax rate for every $100 of assessed property value will climb a little over six cents, or 2.23 percent, to about $2.862.
Before casting his “yes” vote, Council President John Kulish said that getting to a budget that only modestly raises taxes without cutting any services and employees was a “feat and a half.”
This is second in a series looking at all the campaign literature put out by candidates in this spring’s school board and municipal elections. We’ll take a critical look at the messages and rhetoric and invite readers to comment. Here’s part 1 and part 2.
UPDATE — May 2: Added Andre Daniels’ Web site.
The Internet has become a new battleground for votes among candidates seeking statewide and national offices.
But on a local level — Hillside included — campaigns are still playing catch-up.
The Hillside Township Council last night rescheduled a budget hearing and decided when they would vote on whether to submit an application for a federal grant due in just six days.
Seemingly simple tasks, but not accomplished without the council members throwing themselves into a tizzy and allowing election season tempers to flare.
The Hillside Township Council will have a regular public meeting tonight at 7 at the Municipal Building.
At the council’s caucus last night, municipal pool commissioner Dennis Kobitz urged the council not to go ahead with a nominal reduction in swimming pool fees brought up at the last council meeting earlier this month.
School board candidates Angela Menza, Shelby Robinson and Danny Santos had their wine and cheese fundraiser this afternoon at the real estate office of mayoral candidate Joseph Menza, who’s Angela’s cousin.
Seen there during the hour The Hillsider stopped by: school board member Nathalie Yafet and her husband, Steven, who said hello-goodbye and were off to hit the pavement; former school board member John O’Shea, who’s managing Joe Menza’s campaign; school board member June Korzeneski, who’s managing the school board slate’s campaign; and council candidates George Cook and Jean Miller.
Hillside’s embattled political boss needs all the help she can get these days.
Eleven of the 12 at-large council candidates in next week’s municipal election participated in Monday night’s forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, answering questions about how they would stabilize property taxes, bring businesses into Hillside, and improve communication between the council, mayor and the Board of Education.
The campaign manager for mayoral candidate Joseph Menza has lodged a complaint against the Hillside Democratic Campaign Committee’s school board slate, claiming they failed to file required finance reports with the state.
