JACKSON – Seven challengers and incumbents petitioned to compete as council candidates for three, four-year seats on the ballot in November.
While the form of government in the township may be non-partisan, party politics still plays a role as to who ends up on the ballot. While there are no party primaries held in June, there is a petition process that concluded last month.
The Jackson GOP slate supported by Republican Mayor Michael Reina is running with the slogan of “Proven Leadership.” They include incumbent Councilmen Nino Borrelli and Mordechai Burnstein as well as Giuseppe Palmieri, the current Jackson Board of Education president.
Elenor Hannum, her husband Eric Hannum and Amanda Trombetta are running as one slate called “The Voice You Deserve.”
Hope Drew is running independently under the banner of “Conservative Common Sense. Jackson Needs Hope.”
Each of the challengers have called for a need for change on the dais which has seen some fiery exchanges between the public and council and even among council members themselves during the last two years.
Elenor Hannum has been a vocal critic of Mayor Reina and those aligned with him and has directed many pointed questions toward the dais during council meetings over the years. She was even removed from one council meeting held last spring when she made comments that Council President Kuhn deemed as being out of order and had her expelled from the room when Hannum refused to leave the podium.
Topics raised by members of the public over the years include concerns of overdevelopment in the municipality, state aid cuts to the school district, traffic safety and transparency within the municipal government.
Also noted within the last year and a half has been the process of updating of the township’s master plan and the zoning ordinances that codify them. Many residents and officials have expressed that this may well be the primary issue facing the community.
The Township Planning Board is currently involved in reviewing the master plan. Some residents have expressed that recommendations for change should not be made by this board until after January when any potential new council members are sworn in. Some have come to town meetings calling for more public participation during this master plan review process.
One consistent issue noted during public comment periods and on Jackson social media is enforcement of ordinances and codes and strong focus placed on zoning violations, building code violations, traffic and parking violations in addition to noise ordinance violations.
Council members and professional staff, however, reported that improvements have been made toward providing ample staffing in the zoning, building and construction offices and steps taken to provide greater transparency in town hall.
Councilman Steven Chisholm did not receive an endorsement for re-election by the Jackson GOP organization. He and Borrelli have previously had differences of opinion concerning ordinances, citizen board member selection and transparency issues with Council President Jennifer Kuhn, Council Vice President Scott Sargent and Councilman Burnstein.
Kuhn and Sargent were sworn in for full terms in January 2023. Burnstein was appointed after the resignation of Councilman Martin Flemming on Oct. 17, 2023 to fill his unexpired term in office. Flemming, also Republican, had run against Reina in the 2022 mayor’s race.
Reina, who has served as mayor since 2008, won that election with a 1,150-vote margin and his running mates included Kuhn and Sargent while Flemming was supported by Chisholm and Borrelli creating a rift among the all-Republican council.
The mayor broke a two-to-two tie appointing Burnstein to the council during a special council meeting. Kuhn and Sargent had voted for him while Borrelli and Chisholm had supported a different nominee. Burnstein is the president of the Jackson GOP and previously served on the township planning board.
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