By Emily Schopfer
OCEANPORT – Two separate lawsuits against the Borough of Oceanport alleging unlawful termination have been filed in Superior Court in Freehold. One was filed by former court administrator Lesley Kirchgessner, who was terminated in March. The other lawsuit was filed by former council member Keith Salnick, who was removed from office in May 2025.
Kirchgessner’s lawsuit was filed April 9 by her attorney Christopher Markos of Haddonfield. Defendants include Oceanport Borough, Oceanport Mayor Thomas J. Tvrdik, council President Patricia Cooper, council members Richard Gallo, William Deerin, Bryan Keeshen, Michael O’Brien, Kara Burke-Manna, and borough administrator Donna Phelps. The April 9 complaint states that Kirchgessner was not a tenured employee of the borough, but her termination was “arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, and in violation of law, including principles of due process, judicial independence, and applicable municipal procedures.”
According to the complaint, Kirchgessner was appointed to the official position of municipal court administrator, which is a three-year term, on or about Aug. 15, 2024. On or about March 13, 2026, borough administrator Donna Phelps informed Kirchgessner that her employment was terminated. The complaint states that Phelps lacked “legal authority to terminate Plaintiff’s (Kirchgessner) employment.”
At the regularly scheduled March 26, 2026, borough council meeting, the mayor and council voted to “separate Lesley Kirchgessner from employment,” according to a resolution, which stated the “action is administrative in nature and is not being taken for disciplinary reasons,” and backdated Kirchgessner’s termination to March 13.
In the other matter, Salnick filed his lawsuit April 30 and is representing himself. He was elected to serve on the council beginning in January 2023 for a three-year term ending Dec. 31, 2025. At the May 1, 2025, workshop meeting, the mayor and council voted to remove Salnick from his position after deeming it “vacant.” The May 1 resolution stated that an “office of a member of a governing body shall be deemed vacant ‘when a member of the governing body fails to attend and participate in any meeting of the governing body for a period of eight consecutive weeks without being excused from attendance by a majority of the members of the governing body, at the conclusion of such period.’ ”
According to the resolution, Salnick attended the Jan. 2, 2025, reorganization meeting, but missed seven council meetings over the next 13 weeks, from Jan. 16 to April 17. “Salnick did not request to be excused from the Missed Council Meetings in any manner, no less in writing and as such, Mr. Salnick did not attend and participate in meetings of the Governing Body for a period of thirteen consecutive weeks and missed in excess of four consecutive workshop and regular meetings of the Council without being excused from attendance by a majority of the members of the Borough Council, thereby triggering the statutory requirement of having his office deemed vacant,” the resolution read.
The same month, the borough council unanimously voted to appoint Kara Burke-Manna to fill the remainder of Salnick’s unexpired term.
The lawsuit is ongoing, but Salnick did confirm in an interview that he was out of the country during the period in question because of the birth of his son in Costa Rica at the end of 2024. Salnick said he “absolutely” gave notice to the council that he would be away for an extended time; “Everybody was very aware,” he said. Salnick also said he requested to join meetings remotely, but the way the borough handles virtual council meetings is “unprofessional” and “unregulated.”
Salnick said he joined the council because he was unhappy with how the town was treating residents like him and wanted to “get involved to make a difference.” Salnick said his removal from council was not an isolated incident but part of a “pattern I noticed since before I was on the council.”
The lawsuit is just “one small piece of the broader story,” he said. Salnick owns Father Time Fishing LLC, a commercial fishing charter business which is operated from the dock of his home. He, the borough and residents have been involved in multiple actions regarding the commercial business and use of the dock.
This article originally appeared in the September 17-23, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
