By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – At the township’s annual reorganization meeting Jan. 1, Tony Perry was reappointed to serve for the fifth consecutive year as mayor. After the meeting he spoke with The Two River Times about new initiatives, priorities and fiscal responsibility for the township in 2023.
But in the courtroom of the newly constructed municipal building that day, all appointees serving the township took the oath of office. Two re-elected members, Rick Hibell and Kevin Settembrino were sworn in as deputy mayor and township committee member, respectively, for three-year terms each.
Perry recited his oath of office administered by Capt. Ed Callahan from Naval Weapons Station Earle. With Perry’s fifth reappointment, he becomes one of the longest consecutive serving mayors of the township in over half a century, according to Tara Berson, the township’s communications director.
“My excitement is still exactly the same” as the first time, Perry said. He is still as driven as he was in 2019 when he was sworn in as the youngest mayor in the town’s history. “Every year has been different for me,” he said.
“2022 has been a year of total recovery,” Perry noted, recalling the past four years serving the township amidst the impacts of a global pandemic, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the 10th anniversary of Super Storm Sandy.
“Our businesses were struggling. Our students needed support” but at no point “did we ever slow down,” he said, because “there were more more things that needed to be done.”
Perry noted significant projects the township completed or began in 2022, including the approval of plans for veterans housing on Leonardville Road to be developed by the Middletown Housing Authority. The township also formed the Next Generation Support Program last year which utilized American Rescue Plan Act funding to ensure students received the necessary tutoring and support they needed to make up for time lost when schools were closed or during virtual learning. In the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the township also voted to place a Special Class III police officer in every Middletown public school.
Going into 2023, public safety will stay number one on the township’s list of priorities, Perry said. He noted the township has spent more money in the last four years “than we had in the last 20 combined when it comes to public safety,” to combat increased auto thefts and recent home break-ins in the Lincroft section of the township. Double the amount of police officers have been assigned full time to the State Police Auto Theft Task Force for increased patrols in “targeted neighborhoods” to keep residents safe, he said, “but in a town of 23,000 houses of 68,000 people, there’s only so many square inches that you can cover at a time.”
At the reorganization meeting, Perry announced the town will be filing a suit against the State of New Jersey with the Council on Local Mandates to pay for the extra costs associated with keeping residents safe. He also announced a Safe Streets NJ program that will be a petition for residents, regardless of where they live, “not just here in Middletown or Monmouth County but across the state of New Jersey to have their voices heard, to know and to speak up for their legislators,” he said.
In a press statement post-swearing in, Perry announced various initiatives that will take shape or continue in 2023. The township is working to preserve and utilize the existing fields at the former Mater Dei Prep for recreational sports leagues; the repair of the Conover Beacon in Leonardo is currently being finished by public works team and, before the summer, the beacon will once again shine with new paint and a new light; the dog park at Tindall Park in place of the old mini golf course will be ready for use this year and as soon as the weather breaks for spring the final phase of that project will start and the facility will be a destination for dog owners across the town; a new skate park at Kunkel Park will be assembled; the recently opened Stevenson Park community garden has been able to generate hundreds of pounds of food for those most in need.
Additionally, the township entered into a shared services agreement with Monmouth County that is expected to save taxpayer dollars and increase services and programming.
Republicans continue their stronghold in Middletown, with all five seats on the township committee held by members of that party.
The article originally appeared in the January 5 – 11, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
