By Philip Sean Curran
Monmouth County Freeholders last week named a new county fire marshal, despite one member of the board saying officials had promised the job to the other candidate for the position.
Deputy fire marshal Fred Migliaccio and acting fire marshal Richard W. Hogan were vying for a job previously filled by Kevin Stout, who retired. Freeholders voted 4-1 July 25 to appoint Migliaccio, even though members of the fire service around the county packed the freeholders’ work session meeting earlier in the day to support Hogan. Both men attended the meeting wearing their dress uniforms and sat on opposite sides of the meeting room.
But just like in 2016 when Stout was named, freeholders bypassed the order of succession within the fire marshal’s office by choosing Migliaccio.
Freeholder Lillian G. Burry was the only member of the board to vote against Migliaccio, a rare “no” vote for any action item by the board. She said that a few months ago officials had put out a request for applicants for the job and inter viewed both men. She said Hogan was told he would get the job and that Migliaccio would be his assistant, “which was a good compromise.”
“But the point is, we supported this unanimously,” she said.
Patrick Impreveduto, deputy freeholder director and liaison to the fire marshal and fire academy, said from the dais that Hogan and Migliaccio were “outstanding candidates.”
“We were pleased with both of them,” he said. “There was discussion. I know nothing was etched in stone at that time.”
After the meeting was over, some Hogan supporters privately pointed to the influence of Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, also the chairman of the county Republican Party, on the selection by the all-Republican freeholder board. Sources said Golden, who was at the freeholder meeting, supported Migliaccio for the job.
“I don’t know that,” Migliaccio said in an inter view after ward. “If you know that, that’s news to me.”
“They had two good, experienced candidates in the mix for fire marshal,” Golden said by phone July 29. “And it appears as though they went with the one that could put more time in to the position. And certainly as sheriff, we don’t run the fire marshal’s office, but we certainly will work hand in hand with whoever the new fire marshal is.”
Of the rumors of his influence on the choice, Golden said, “I heard something about it. I don’t buy into rumors.”
“At the end of the day, I wasn’t in the interview process,” Golden said. “I don’t run the fire marshal’s office.”
Hogan did not respond to a request for comment. Migliaccio and Hogan have both served as deputy fire marshals. Migliaccio, 63, is also a borough councilman in West Long Branch, served as a firefighter for 45 years in the Long Branch and West Long Branch fire departments and worked as the director of public works for Long Branch before retiring.
As marshal, he will be paid $30 an hour for 25 hours per week. His duties include investigating fires, overseeing the county fire academy and advising fire companies, among other things.
Yet during the meeting, some fire officials made their candidate preference known.
Englishtown fire chief Lou Sarti, speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting, was among those backing Hogan, a man he said he has known for 38 years. He said Hogan is “going in the right direction in trying to unify the fire departments, trying to settle some of the issues with manpower, with oversight with fire departments, trying to bring them together and not keep them apart.”
Marlboro fire chief Joe Chaplinski told freeholders he had only learned about Migliaccio’s appointment less than two days before the vote and lamented how there is “no communication from the county to local departments right now.”
“Rick has been doing a great job in the last seven months communicating,” he said. “Before that, it was a little up and down.”
Jim Merriman, president of the Monmouth County Firemen’s Association, shared how, during a fire in Ocean Grove earlier this year, Hogan had showed up at midnight to offer his help.
Hogan also enjoyed the support of Manalapan Mayor Susan Cohen and Deputy Mayor Jack McNaboe, who both attended the meeting.
“I can’t understand how you’re not taking the best person for the job,” Cohen said.
But Colts Neck Deputy Mayor Frank Rizzuto, also president of Colts Neck Fire Company 1 and a captain in the Long Branch Police Department, spoke up for Migliaccio. He said that when Migliaccio led the public works department in Long Branch, “his logistics abilities were unsurpassed.”
“He took a town that was in dire need of help and, through his department of public works, really turned what you see in Long Branch around,” he said.
In an interview afterward, Migliaccio was asked his view of the large turnout at the meeting for Hogan.
“It’s politics, it’s politics,” he said. “I could have done the same thing. I tried not to do that.”
He said he and Hogan have been friends and that he hopes Hogan stays with the fire marshal’s office.
“He’s a wealth of knowledge,” said Migliaccio, who has been with the office for more than 25 years. “When I joined the fire marshal’s office, he was the first one to step up to help me.”
