JACKSON – Two important vacancies – a council member and the business administrator – were appointed by the governing body.
Former Councilman Ken Bressi was chosen to fill the position of Councilman Scott Sargent who died last month after undergoing heart surgery. He was picked from 21 candidates to fill Sargent’s position.
Bressi comes highly experienced having filled numerous elected and appointed positions in the municipality dating back four decades including that of council president and mayor.
The nomination vote began with a motion from Council President Jennifer Kuhn’s nomination for Bressi. Councilman Giuseppe Palmeri seconded that motion.
Councilman Nino Borrelli said he was not part of any “deliberations about who we were going to nominate for the council vacancy. I would like to nominate my first choice (former councilman) Steve Chisholm based on his experience and based on his reputation.”
Kuhn interjected to ask a question about procedure to Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin to which Borrelli repeated that he was making a motion to nominate Chisholm.
McGuckin said “the motion would be out of order because there is already a motion and a second on the floor.” He said without a second motion to table the first, the initial vote would have to be taken.
Borrelli added, “I have nothing against former councilman and mayor Bressi. He has many years and decades of experience. I just wish I was part of the discussions in regards to who was going to be nominated for the position and I wanted to state that on the record.”
All of the council members are Republican, but there has been some internal strife between two camps within the party.
Council Vice President Mordechai Burnstein said he was part of the interview process and “was very uplifting and inspiring to interview some of the people who actually ran against my election”
“I got to learn a lot about them and I’m actually extremely impressed by some of the passion and ideas and I hope all the 20 something names that were not picked stay involved. I put my name in three times (when prior councilmen resigned) and eventually I got on here,” he added. “I encourage everyone to stay involved and stay engaged.”
Kuhn said she interviewed all but one candidate. “There were some great candidates. Mr. Bressi comes with a resume. That is what we need right now.”
McGuckin swore in Bressi who remarked later in the meeting, “I’ve been on this dais, elected many times to be up here, appointed to many boards and committees and it has always been a privilege to serve the township.”
“Tonight is a very different feeling, filling the shows of Scott Sargent who was a good friend, good person, great family person. I knew him from the Department of Public Works when I was first on the Township Committee. This is an interim position,” Bressi added.
His first act was to join the unanimous vote to approve the second key role filled during that council meeting, the hiring of Lavon Phillips as township business administrator, a position that has been vacant since Terence Wall resigned about three months ago.
Phillips said he was “incredibly honored to be the new business administrator for Jackson Township.” He expressed his gratitude to Mayor Michael Reina who was not present at the meeting and the township council “for entrusting me in this vital role.”
The business administrator runs the day-to-day operations of the town.
“I am eager to get to know each of you better, our department heads our dedicated staff, our residents that make Jackson Township such a special place. My focus is simple: it’s to ensure our operation is efficient, transparent and responsive as possible. I believe in fostering a holistic and collaborative environment where we can work together and achieve our shared goals,” Phillips added.
Phillips’ LinkedIn page listed that this was his first job as a full-time business administrator. He did serve as acting township manager in Evesham, Burlington County, from August 2023 until January of this year.
Evesham is one of Burlington’s County’s largest communities with a population of around 48,000. While serving in that role Phillips also served as director of business and resident services.
Evesham hired a permanent township manager and Phillips reverted to his position as business and resident services director. His LinkedIn page noted a number of skills such as “developing trust,” “earning buy-in,” “collaboration building” and “staying cool as a cucumber.” Also listed were “tectile urbanist” and “creative placemaking.”
Township Council President Jennifer Kuhn announced that Township Clerk Sandra Martin who was hired earlier in the year would be on maternity leave for a couple months and recently gave birth “to a beautiful baby girl.” Deputy Clerk Beth-Ellen Gencarelli who was hired in April, is taking on her duties while she is away.
Gencarelli was reportedly hired to assist with a backlog of Open Public Record Act (OPRA) requests. Burnstein previously described that situation as “severe” and that the clerk’s office was authorized to use a designated attorney with vast OPRA experience “to ensure that these requests won’t be delayed if our regular legal team, which reviews the requests, is busy.”
