Photo by Allison Perrine
RED BANK – The borough council remains all-Democratic in 2020 after two incumbent council members were reelected in November and sworn in Jan. 1.
At the council’s annual reorganization meeting on the first day of the year, Kathleen Horgan and Erik Yngstrom were sworn in to three-year terms. The ceremony was held before a packed council room filled with local, county and state elected officials, including First Lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy.
Speaking on behalf of Gov. Phil Murphy and herself, she said that “clearly” Horgan’s and Yngstrom’s reelections prove that Red Bank is doing something right. “There’s no way that Kathy and Eric would be reelected if we thought we were on the wrong track.”
At the meeting, Mayor Pasquale Menna described plans to enhance communications with the community in the new year. He wants to revive Saturday morning neighborhood coffee chats in the spring. And at least once a month, he wants to host hourlong open sessions before council meetings. Residents will be able to ask questions and air out their concerns before meetings.
“Any questions, any issues can be brought and I will field them,” he said. “Some council members have said, ‘You know you’re taking on a lot more,’ but I’d like to do that, so we’re going to do that.” He noted that council meetings are at night and these open sessions might help people get things “off their chests” before meetings.
Red Bank resident Suzanne Viscomi, a regular attendee of borough meetings, reflected on Menna’s ideas. She stressed the importance of having these sessions recorded because it holds council members to their word, on the record, she said.
But she has observed that it can be hard to have a healthy debate during the meetings. “It might have been better to hold public questions at the start of the meeting,” she said, instead of waiting until “some unknown time later.”
Menna plans to provide a more detailed report of Red Bank’s fiscal status, parking operations and vision for the new year at the next council meeting. In the meantime he highlighted some of the borough’s accomplishments over the last year, like implementing recommendations from its self-analysis, working on its affordable housing obligation, banning single-use plastics and working on the Red Bank Train Station redevelopment plan.
Firemen Honored, New Council President
Horgan and Yngstrom were not the only two people sworn in to their positions that Wednesday. Three longstanding fire department members were appointed to new terms, including F. Scott Calabrese, fire chief; Robert J. Holiday, first deputy chief; and Nick Ferraro, second deputy chief. The men received praise from Menna and a round of applause from meeting attendees.
Councilman Michael Ballard was nominated as the new council president, unanimously supported by elected officials. He replaces Yngstrom who was the 2019 council president.
