Middletown Has An Outbreak Of Cooperation

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden issues the Oath of Office to Middletown Mayor Tony Perry while Allannah Perry holds the Bible. Jan 6, 2019

A simmering political and legal battle between the Middletown Board of Education and the Middletown Township Committee was extinguished on Sunday morning when both boards tabled conflicting resolutions regarding the date of the annual Board of Education elections.

The Township Committee had a resolution on its agenda to move school elections to April. The BoE scheduled a Special Meeting to pass a resolution to keep their elections on the annual general election ballot in November.

Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore, Board of Education President Pamela Rogers and Vice President Robin Stella met early on Sunday morning, prior to the 9 a.m. Special Meeting of the BoE and the 10 a.m. Annual Reorganization of the Township Committee. Fiore, Rogers and Stella agreed to recommend that their respective board table their conflicting resolutions. The BoE voted 7-2 to table their resolution, with only newly elected Democrats Tom Giaimo and Deborah Wright opposing. The Township Committee unanimously voted to table their resolution.

Rogers attended the Township Committee meeting after adjourning the Special BoE meeting and thanked the Committee for tabling the resolution to change the election date. Fiore and Rogers pledged to continue the dialogue.

The BoE had scheduled the 9 am Sunday morning meeting based on a faulty legal opinion which advised that their desire to keep school elections in November would prevail over the Township Committee’s proposal to hold school elections in April, if they passed their resolution before the Township Committee passed its resolution.