BRICK – Two candidates squared off to secure the mayor’s chair in the November 4 general election in the township, along with a race for three seats on the Township Council.
Incumbent Mayor Lisa Crate, a Democrat, may have narrowly been re-elected with 16,705 votes and 50.3% against Republican Madeline Colagiovanni Iannarone, who currently serves as the Board of Education President and who received 16,444 votes capturing 49.57%.
The County Board of Elections takes a few weeks to certify results, looking over provisional ballots and other issues. That makes this race too close to call.
Iannarone did not concede after the results were in. As of press time, it’s still too close to call. The Brick Republican Club tells Jersey Shore Online that there is still time for more votes to be counted.
Crate’s apparent victory wasn’t shared by her council running mates. Republican council candidates Gregory J. Cohen received 16,938 votes, Perry Albanese received 17,427 and Lisa Reina received 17,478 votes in the election.
Incumbent Democratic Councilwoman Heather deJong received 14,807 votes and joining her were newcomers Dan Ward with 14,655 votes and Rocco Lepore who received 14,558.
The Democrats met at Beacon 70 on election night. Crate told the Brick Times, “we worked hard. We knocked on thousands of doors, made lots of phone calls and met with many people and did everything we could do to get out there. We started early and worked up to the last hour. We had a great team.”
Spirits were high at that gathering with the returns coming in. Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Jack Ciattarelli in his third attempt to become New Jersey governor. He did win Ocean County but lost statewide having underperformed in key areas of New Jersey.
In a campaign profile article, Crate told The Brick Times that her team, “has a record of reducing costs, which has allowed us to improve Township services while keeping municipal taxes stable. We have reduced costs through improved technology, holding vendors accountable and working with the County, State and the business community to obtain grants to defray costs.
She noted that the 31-acre Breton Woods site was recently preserved as open space. “When we first looked into the purchase, I knew it wouldn’t be fair to make Brick taxpayers pay almost $10 million for this property. We are pleased that the Ocean County Commissioners and the state provided most of the funding. After grant money was factored in, Brick taxpayers only paid $500,000 for the entire 31 acres and that’s a great deal.”
“We also reduced municipal debt by nearly $50 million since 2011. This has saved Brick taxpayers millions in interest,” Crate added.
Still, if Crate continues to lead the township administration, she will have to do so with a council that has a Republican majority.
Crate’s opponent, Iannarone joined her running mates at the Clarion Hotel in Toms River. She said in her campaign profile that had she been elected she wanted to provide enhanced services “while cutting costs through strategic fiscal reforms and accountability. Rather than relying on one-time surplus funds as happened this previous year, my approach focuses on sustainable, long-term solutions that benefit all residents.”
She also wanted to establish a Community Fiscal Oversight Committee to conduct thorough budget reviews and publish quarterly spending reports and appoint a township ombudsman to assist taxpayers during property assessment processes, potentially saving residents significant money while reducing administrative burdens.
The race was relatively close. The Republican referenced a concern that Brick was becoming to overdeveloped. “We need to hit the brakes on rampant building.”
