By John Burton
OCEANPORT – Mayor-elect John “Jay” Coffey may have been the most surprised by his Nov. 3 election win.
“I had only written a concession speech,” Coffey acknowledged, as now he prepares to take office on Jan. 1.
Coffey won what he described at the time as a “quixotic,” last minute write-in candidacy for the mayor’s office and now comes in at a time when he said Oceanport is facing some significant challenges, both immediate and long term.
“We’re a tiny town with big city problems at this point,” Coffey observed. “Things have to change.”
As Coffey, a Democrat, takes office, he and the six-member, all-Republican council will have to continue to address such issues as what should be done about a new municipal complex; the ongoing and future redevelopment of the former Fort Monmouth property; how best to have Monmouth Park thoroughbred horseracing track continue as a major community and regional destination and economic engine; the selection the next borough administrator for the municipality’s continuing operation; and not in the least the ongoing discussions with the local Board of Education over the $33 million referendum to construct a new school and renovate an existing one.
On that matter, the vote was postponed from December to March to consider the district’s options, Coffey said.
“This is definitely a time of change for Oceanport,” a community with 5,700 residents, the mayor-elect offered.
Coffey, 53, is a general practice lawyer with offices in Shrewsbury and in Bayonne and represents Bayonne as its corporate lawyer.
Coffey had been approached by some in the community to run in what had looked like an uncontested election, with Republican Mayor Michael Mahon seeking his third four-year term.
He and his running mate, Cullin Wible, who was seeking a borough council seat, decided to run when it was too late to get on the official ballot. Instead they and their supporters mounted a write-in effort, relying on efforts such as going door-to-door and an aggressive social media campaign as well as Coffey’s name recognition from his years coaching for the recreation program and his time on the board of education. That effort secured Coffey a comfortable victory in an off-year election. Wible wasn’t successful in winning a council seat.
As best as he’s been able to find out this is the only second time that a write-in candidate has unseated a mayor in the state. The only other instance of it happening, members of News 12 New Jersey told Coffey, occurred in Roosevelt Borough in western Monmouth County in the early 1980s. In that race voters wrote in a former mayor, who was actually in Florida at the time of the election and was unaware of the efforts to win him another term, Coffey was told.
Now, “The question is, what happens when the dog catches the car?” Coffey realized, answering, “The dog learns how to drive.”
Along with getting up to speed on things, Coffey has made some decisions concerning what he’d like to see happen. “First off we have to fix our internal machine,” he said. Part of what motivated him to seek the office was the dissension to the point of near dysfunction he and others alleged. Coffey hopes to engage the public and get them to attend meetings. And if they can’t make it he wants to start broadcasting them and making them available online. “And then think how to conduct our meetings.”
One of the contentious issues during the campaign was borough administrator John O. Bennett’s standing, operating without a formal contract. While that is a common practice among municipalities, Coffey and others weren’t happy with the way the council had handled it. Bennett had initially announced he would retire at the end of the year. But he has submitted his application for consideration among the other 30 the borough has received. There is a five-member ad hoc committee, with Coffey serving on it, that will evaluate the applicants.
The municipal borough hall was sufficiently damaged by Sandy in October 2012 to sustain structural damage and had to be vacated. The council has been evaluating its options on what it should do about a new site and to ensure its decision will pass muster with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has promised to provide financial assistance for a new borough hall, with some strings attached.
“I’m excited,” about the coming prospect of his term as mayor, Coffey said. He is drafting a PowerPoint presentation to use at an upcoming council meeting to lay out his agenda, which includes reaching out to the community at large to use its talents, especially as the town considers it challenges, explained.
“I’m going to do everything I can and I think the borough council is going to do everything they can to make sure we make this better,” he said.
Correction: The online version of this story has been corrected to reflect Oceanport’s actual number of residents: 5,700, not 57,000.
