By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – Republican candidates Rick Hibell and Kevin Settembrino were reelected by an overwhelming majority to the Middletown Township Committee Nov. 8. The incumbents celebrated their win over Democrats with Mayor Tony Perry at a gathering at Nana’s Kitchen election night. According to unofficial results from the Monmouth County Clerk’s website as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, with all districts reporting, Hibell received 16,237 votes and Settembrino 16,135. Democrat candidates Paige Gregorio and Rocky Rios garnered 9,555 and 9,291, respectively.
Middletown operates under the township committee form of government. The five members are elected at-large to staggered three-year terms. The committee conducts a reorganization meeting annually in January. At this meeting commit- tee members select one of their own to serve as mayor and one to serve as deputy mayor for a one-year term.
Hibell, currently serving as deputy mayor, was initially elected to the committee in 2018. “We’re going to continue with improving our parks, our roads and continue to invest in our infrastructure, our EMS, our fire department, and all of our volunteers and veterans,” he said at the event.
“Our opponents want change. We want to continue progress, and that’s a difference between the Republicans here and Democrats,” Settembrino said. He and the committee hope to continue the progress in town, “whether it’s keeping taxes stable, whether it’s doing additional homes for the veterans, whether it’s maintaining the parks for the kids,” he said.
Hibell and Settembrino have done “an incredible job as colleagues of mine on the township committee,” Perry said. He believes they swept the votes in Middletown, “because of the results that we’ve been able to provide the residents of Middletown, and Rick and Kevin are key parts to that.”
The township committee is the legislative and executive body of the township and is responsible for passing laws and setting policies that affect the township.
The article originally appeared in the November 10 – 16, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
