JACKSON – Last autumn, Council President Martin Flemming was involved in a contentious race with fellow GOP and incumbent Michael Reina. While he ultimately lost the race for mayor, he retained leadership of the council, until the latest council meeting.
Flemming announced toward the close of the session, that this would be his last meeting as leader of the council although he would be remaining on for a time on the council.
“This will be my last evening as council president. I will be stepping down for the next meeting and I would like to nominate my vice president (Steven Chisholm) to take over my duties,” Flemming said.
Councilman Nino Borrelli seconded that motion and voted in the affirmative to the nomination.
Councilwoman Jennifer Kuhn and Councilman Scott Sargent voted no.
Chisholm voted, “begrudgingly yes.”
Flemming was the last vote and he too, voted in the affirmative. He then nominated Councilman Borrelli to the position of council vice president. Chisholm seconded that motion.
Kuhn inquired if she could ask a question to Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin. “If Mr. Flemming is now stepping down, can he vote?”
McGuckin answered, “yes, he is still a councilmember. He hasn’t resigned.”
“I would be honored to, yes,” Borrelli said casting his vote.
Kuhn and Sargent voted against the motion while Chisholm and Flemming voted yes, confirming Borelli as the council vice president.
Flemming added, “there is a lot of talk of everybody working together here but you can see by this that this isn’t really true. It is disheartening for the town and I really feel bad for that.”
As he moved to make a motion to adjourn the meeting, Councilwoman Kuhn interjected, “I think being blindsided is more of an accurate statement, President Flemming. We were just in an executive (session, a private gathering prior to the general meeting) and this could have been brought there where we could have had an open conversation as representatives of Jackson Township.”
“Yeah, this was just thrown at us a second ago so you can’t accuse us of not working with you,” Councilman Sargent said.
Flemming continued with his motion to adjourn which was seconded and brought a unanimous “aye” to finish up the 20-minute meeting.
During the public comment period of the meeting, resident Elenor Hannum thanked the council president and his family for “the decades of dedication and service to the Jackson community. Your family represents what longtime residents knew and loved about this town.”
Since January’s reorganization meeting, there have been disagreements within the all-GOP Council with Kuhn and Sargent voting one way and Flemming, Borrelli and Chisholm voting opposite. Those matters concerned leadership of the governing body, and who was to chair different committees.
Kuhn and Sargent were running mates with Mayor Reina during the mayor/council race last year and defeated incumbent councilmembers aligned with Flemming. There were hopes expressed following the bitter campaign by both Reina and Flemming that the rift within the party could heal and cooperation would unify the governing body.
As the township’s form of government allows for residents to offer up letters of interest to serve on the council when a member resigns, Flemming’s eventual replacement may come down to a vote by the members of the council.
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