JACKSON – Authority once held by the Township Business Administrator will now fall directly to the public safety director under an ordinance that was unanimously introduced during a recent Township Council meeting.
Council President Jennifer Kuhn said that was the only change that was brought about through this ordinance.
“Now when our men and women of the police department have questions about policy or procedure, they have a point of contact to go to,” Kuhn said during the latest council meeting. “There was a little bit of confusion between the department as to who their point of contact was and who they should go to for questions and answers and this is amending that and taking care of that concern.”
Resident Jim Selecia challenged that remark. “You made a statement that it was only changed to make him the appropriate authority. I did a comparison to this ordinance as it is written today compared to what is posted on the Jackson Township website. That statement is not completely true.”
“One of the things in the old ordinance was who he reported to. This does not (have it). If you go to the ordinance as it is written, section B number 10, shall be responsible for all hiring, promotions, resource allocations and then it goes on and says, this shall include the daily duties of all police officers within such positions and duty assignments,” Selecia added.
He stated, “the very next sentence says the daily duties of all police officers within such positions and duty assignments shall be the responsibility of the chief of police. Who is it? You just stated in this ordinance that two people have the exact same role.”
The resident also noted that the department consists of 130 police officers in the ordinance. The old ordinance listed 110 to which Kuhn responded, “you are looking at the wrong one.”
“The question becomes if there was an increase what is the impact of that increase to the township budget?” he asked council.
“The 110 is incorrect. It is 130 as we found that in error,” Kuhn answered but she would not publicly respond to his other questions. “I will e-mail you the response in regards to the public safety director.”
In March of 2024, the Township Council reintroduced the position of public safety director. This vote was controversial, as it only succeeded by 3-2. A month later, Sgt. Joseph Candido was appointed to that role. Matthew Kunz became chief in 2008 and served as the public safety director for two years prior to that.
This most recent ordinance, that will have a public hearing during the council’s May 13 meeting, also states that the director will receive compensation determined by the mayor in accordance with the Township Council’s salary and wage ordinance.
Where’s The Budget?
Selecia also asked the council about the status of this year’s budget. “Where is it?”
Council Vice President Mordechai Burnstein responded the council received the budget recently and an extension had been requested.
“We have a temporary CFO (Chief Financial Officer), who worked on it and council was told to review it. We definitely have comments to give to the administration to hopefully put together a budget that passes. We are hoping to introduce it within the next month.” He also noted an interruption of e-mail service of the township government during that period of time.
An April 24 e-mail by Mayor Michael Reina reported “we are pleased to inform you that the township’s email system has been fully restored and is now back in service. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the recent outage.”
“Any attempts to contact the township via email after Sunday, April 20 at 5 p.m. were unfortunately unsuccessful. If you submitted an email or application during that time, we kindly ask that you resend your message and contact the Township to confirm receipt. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we worked to resolve this issue,” the mayor added.
“We are in disagreement with the administration pertaining to the budget which is why we have not introduced it yet. We don’t have a (business administrator) right now,” Kuhn said.
Speed Limits and Officers Added
Ordinance 2025-12 which was also unanimously introduced that night involves the regulation of speed limits adding Hurley Road from Wright-DeBow Road to the Freehold Township border, to 25 miles per hour.
Two new police officers, Jonathan Pauciullo and Mason Kinlan were sworn in during that meeting.
Resolutions Passed
Resolutions passed during the evening included the appointment of an Affirmative Action contract for a compliance officer, appointing Holman Frenia Allison as Township Auditor.
Traffic light signal agreements were also authorized for Route 636I Bennetts Mills Road and Butterfly Road-Frank Applegate Road, Route 547/South Hope Chapel Road and Fremont Avenue.
Resolution R162-2025 authorized ROVA Farms Park Proposal with Morgan Engineering.
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