By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – The council chamber was full for the annual reorganization meeting Jan. 4, as the borough nears a transition to a nonpartisan form of government.
Making his political start as a Democratic mayor on what is now an all-Democratic council, Billy Portman, who defeated councilman Michael Ballard for the position in November, was officially sworn-in by state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11). Council members Angela Mirandi and John Jackson were sworn in to council seats soon after. Mirandi was reelected to the council in November while voters chose Jackson to occupy the seat vacated by Kathleen Horgan, who opted not to seek reelection. Horgan will continue to serve the borough on the Red Bank Educational Foundation and the library foundation. Ballard was appointed to serve as council president in 2023.
But after voters passed a measure in November, the template is set in 2023 for the borough to adopt a nonpartisan council-manager form of government instead of the current mayor-council form. Residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of the special referendum question following a recommendation from the charter commission which studied viable options. Both mayor and council seats will be up for election again under the new form of government in May this year. Until then, “I feel like we need to be stewards of the borough,” Portman said. “Let’s keep the ship running smoothly.”
Portman replaces Mayor Pasquale Menna who did not seek reelection. Menna presided over his final borough meeting in December and was acknowledged by both residents and council members for serving the borough since 2007 as mayor.
Red Bank is not a town that makes changes easily, Portman noted. “We’ve had only two different mayors in the last 31 years, and neither of them are the longest-serving mayors of Red Bank,” he said. Portman noted the borough has had “the same form of government for almost 120 years; we have been operating under the same master plan since 1996. And now I find myself overseeing the largest set of changes in the history of Red Bank.”
Although beginning his political career with historic changes, Portman said he will still be available during his office hours at the borough hall from 4 to 6 p.m. every Monday for meetings with residents.
“I am excited to be at the helm for these changes,” he said. “I’m excited to work with my fellow council members on behalf of this amazing little town. We are less than 2 square miles, 12 or 13,000 residents. And we have so much going on here.”
He couldn’t be more accurate as the council members moved to pass a resolution on a day meant to be ceremonial.
New Bylaws Adopted At Reorganization Meeting
With the exception of councilwoman Kate Triggiano, the council collectively adopted its bylaws for meetings. “The purpose of the resolution is to set in motion the rules for the borough operation,” said Councilman Ed Zipprich who sponsored the resolution. Zipprich said he reached out to the borough clerk to determine if bylaws were in place, and she was “unable to secure them.” So Zipprich, in coordination with the borough attorney Dan Antonelli, drafted bylaws which he presented to the council for adoption.
Bylaws essentially standardize the format and policies of meetings by finalizing details such as time limits on debates, rules on council member absences, when and how frequently council agendas and meetings of the mayor and council will be held and much more.
Triggiano voiced concerns over a document which had not been presented to the public before finalizing. Additionally, none of the council members had read it before Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the meeting. Triggiano objected to an item in section 12 of the resolution. “My concern is with the last line. It says ‘all resolutions must be endorsed by a committee chair after a majority vote by said committee or said resolutions must have three council members as co-sponsors to be considered at a regular meeting.’ ”
Triggiano asked the council to reconsider this, noting it is “a lot of hoops to jump through just to get a resolution up for conversation at a workshop meeting to be considered by the public and to be heard.”
Portman voiced his opinion but had no vote in the matter. “It does not seem like adequate time to have bylaws enacted a few hours before the meeting. It seems like something we should take some time to review,” he said. Triggiano said she has introduced numerous resolutions for the betterment of the borough but felt the bylaws Zipprich introduced are “banning me from doing that unless I get a majority of a committee, and the chair of that committee, or half the people on this dais, to do this.” She said she has sat on the dais as part of a majority and a minority but has “never taken steps to censor somebody here from introducing a piece of legislation,” which she implied the bylaws were doing, calling the move “abhorrent.”
Zipprich said he consulted with the chairs of the planning and zoning boards which both reaffirmed their bylaws at reorganization meetings. “I stand by my motion to adopt these bylaws, and, of course, they can be amended as we see fit, going for ward,” he said.
The article originally appeared in the January 12 – 18, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
