LAKEHURST – Mayor Harry Robbins announced he will be ending his tenure as mayor at the end of this year.
“I put my retirement papers in for my full-time position and since my full-time position is part of the public employees’ retirement system for the state pension – which I pay into as well – I will be leaving the mayor’s seat at the end of this year on December 31,” Robbins said.
He made this announcement during a Borough Council meeting. During the portion of the meeting where residents ask questions and express concerns, resident Bruce Margeson asked “will there be some kind of special election held?”
The mayor explained “I believe whoever the council president is on January 1 will step up as mayor and will have to run in the next election.”
Another council president would have to be chosen and “you are also going to have an empty seat at the council table that will have to be filled,” the mayor added. He noted that he was and his wife were not moving out of the borough.
Robbins began his career with the Lakewood Township Municipal Utilities Authority in 2001. He has a combined 37 years of experience in the water/wastewater treatment industry. He came to the LTMUA from the Middletown Sewage Authority. He became the safety coordinator for the LTMUA in 2009 and Operations Manager in 2017.
Robbins is the signing operator for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the distribution of water and the collection of wastewater and oversees capital improvements along with the engineering department.
His term of office as mayor was to have ended on December 31, 2027. He became mayor on January 1, 2012 succeeding Timothy Borsetti during that year’s reorganization meeting. Robbins, a Republican, said he was a bit nervous that day as he thanked the voting residents “for this opportunity.”
His inspiration to become mayor was former Mayor Alton Tilton. Robbins vowed at the time to make himself accessible to borough residents and that he planned to hold informal monthly mayor meetings and establish a residents advisory committee to seek public input when the time comes to create the annual municipal budget.
Before becoming mayor, Robbins was the council president.
At this year’s reorganization meeting, Jeffrey Emmons was chosen in a majority vote by the council to serve as council president. It was a surprise given that Emmons was starting the second year of his first term on council. Councilman Steven Oglesby had served in the role of council president for years prior.
