April 16, 2008
By ROBERTA FUGATE
HARDYSTON — Hardyston school board President Marbeth Boffa lost 75 percent of the vote and her seat, making her only the second school board member recalled in New Jersey history.
"This recall, though an arduous process, serves to remind all elected officials that the will of their constituency must be a prime consideration in their decision making," said Sue Murdock, a member of the recall committee.
Newcomer Anita Collins was elected by a similar margin to fill the vacancy left by Boffa. "I'm so looking forward to beginning on the board and to be part of this new future of Hardyston for the children. They are what counts."
"We would like to thank all the Hardyston residents who supported the petition and ultimately voted for the recall," Murdock said.
"We would like to thank Mrs. Boffa for all the positive contributions she has made to our school district, as both a teacher and school board member."
Boffa became the target of residents' disapproval because she was school board president when the board voted to rescind a popular school principal's contract, just a month after it gave him a contract extension.
In June 2007, board members voted 6-3 to rescind the contract of Dominic Festante, principal of Hardyston Elementary School. The month before, the board voted 8-0, with one abstention, to renew that same contract. Parents alleged the decision was personal and political, and it ultimately led to the effort to recall Boffa, whose term would have expired in 2009. Collins will fill the remainder of the term.
Some of those who voted to recall Boffa Tuesday said they did so because they felt she did not satisfactorily answer questions about why Dominic Festante was fired.
"It's time for Boffa to go," said John Moriarty. "I never got a great explanation about why Festante was let go."
Another voter said, "If you're in public office, you need to answer questions and she didn't."
Boffa will have to relinquish her seat as soon as the results are certified.
Boffa declined to comment Tuesday evening.
http://www.mycommunity.com/town/Hardyston_Twp./Detail_View/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=19895
February 26, 2008
School board filings all in, elections will be April 15
By Herald Staff
Marbeth Boffa, who faces a recall election, will get two chances on April 15 to keep her seat on the Hardyston Board of Education.
She can defeat the recall effort or, in a twist of state law, she can win back her seat in the special election being held the same day to fill the vacancy created if she is recalled.
Boffa became the target of some residents' disapproval because she was school board president when the board voted to rescind a popular school principal's contract, just a month after it gave him a contract extension.
In June, board members voted 6-3 to rescind the contract of Dominic Festante, principal of Hardyston Elementary School. Just the month before the board voted 8-0, with one abstention, to renew that same contract. Parents alleged the decision was personal and political, and it ultimately led to the effort to recall Boffa, whose term normally would expire in 2009.
If a simple majority of people vote "yes" on the recall question, Boffa will loose her seat as soon as the results are certified. If successful, it would be just the second recall ever of a New Jersey school official.
Since the ouster would be immediate, there is also a special election to name a successor, if needed. State law specifically allows a recalled official to be elected as his or her own successor.
In that special race, Boffa faces Anita Collins, who also filed a nominating petition by Monday's deadline.
Hardyston voters also will choose from among four candidates to fill three seats for full, three-year terms.
In all but two races in Sussex County there are enough candidates to fill the seats up for election. Nobody filed petitions to run for the Byram seat on the Lenape Valley Regional board. Montague has two open spots but did not provide a list of candidates by Monday afternoon.
And for the Kittatinny Regional board, once again, in keeping with history, nobody filed to run for the board seat representing Walpack.
In both cases, the school board may recruit and name people to fill the seats until the next election.
The most crowded ballot will be in Newton, where the teachers' union contract is still in negotiation and six people filed petitions to run for three open seats on the board. The only incumbent to seek re-election is Mark Fiedorczyk, the current board president.
Newton's Board of Education has 11 members, but two are appointed — one each from Andover and Green, which send students to Newton High School.
In Hopatcong, five people, including the three incumbents, are seeking terms on the board.
In a strange switch in Green Township, two current members of the board have filed petitions to run for one another's seats. Barbara Schultz, who was appointed to the board within the past year, has chosen to run for a full three-year term in a four-way race for three full-term seats.
Incumbent Kelly-Anne McDonnell, who is completing a full term on the board, has chosen to run In a special election for a one-year term now held by Schultz. McDonnell will face newcomer Jennifer Cinotti.
Except in special races to fill unexpired terms, all school board seats are for three years.
Candidates
This list of candidates who filed before the 4 p.m. Monday deadline to run for local school board positions includes are the district name, number of seats open, name of candidate and whether that person is the incumbent.
Petitions are unofficial until verified by the district. Ballot positions have yet to be determined.
ANDOVER REGIONAL
(1 Andover Borough)
Ed Donrads (I)
ANDOVER REGIONAL
(2 Andover Township)
Linda Gianni (I)
Lisa Greebel
BYRAM (3)
Walter Stanek (I)
Giselda Mintz
Russell Rafey (I)
Virginia Bonker (I)
FRANKFORD REGIONAL
(4 Frankford Township)
Christopher Delima
Marjorie Morville (I)
Gregory Andres (I)
Raymond Castellani III
FRANKFORD REGIONAL
(2 Branchville Borough)
Beverly Van Stone (I)
Vichi Card (I)
FRANKLIN (3)
Mary Alonso (I)
Richard A. Kell (I)
Michael A. Payton (I)
Christine Smith
FREDON (2)
Martin Olivo (I)
Courtney Wisinski
GREEN (3)
Barbara Schultz (I)
Michael Wood (I)
Timothy Kirby
Heidi Delahanty
GREEN (unexpired one-year term)
Jennifer Cinotti
Kelly-Anne McDonnell
HAMBURG (3)
Dawn O'Grady (I)
Allen Rude (I)
Stephen Wassel
HAMBURG (1 unexpired term)
Charles McCann
Virginia Rude (I)
HAMPTON (3)
Dr. Joseph Santora (I)
Eleanore Shaffer (I)
Liza Mai Lloux
ohn Wohlleber
HARDYSTON (3)
Michael Cicerale
Christine Clavin
Kevin Johnson
Gerald Lanzalotto (I)
HARDYSTON
(1 potential unexpired term)
Margaret Boffa
Anita Collins
HIGH POINT REGIONAL
(1-Sussex Borough)
Joseph Luna (I)
Pamela Flynn
Walter J. Krynicky
HIGH POINT REGIONAL
(1-Frankford)
Harold Rowan III (I)
Debra Allshouse
HIGH POINT REGIONAL (1-Wantage)
Robert Shevlan (I)
Garrett Link
HOPATCONG (3)
Patricia LoBue (I)
MaryLouise Baker (I)
Clifford London (I)
Susan Madar
Quashinna Williams
KITTATINNY REGIONAL
(1-Sandyston)
Robert Greene (I)
KITTATINNY REGIONAL (1-Fredon)
James Hunt (I)
KITTATINNY REGIONAL (1-Hampton)
David Ormesher (I)
KITTATINNY REGIONAL (1-Walpack, 2nd year of unexpired term)
*No one ever has filed for this seat
LAFAYETTE (3)
Andrew Frye (I)
Atila Ozbek
Mitchel Schappert
Marianne Sharpe (I)
LENAPE REGIONAL (2-Byram)
Daria Johnson (I)
No other petition filed
LENAPE REGIONAL (1-Stanhope)
Joseph Carducci (I)
MONTAGUE
Not available
NEWTON (3)
Mark Fiedorczyk (I)
John Jackson
Roger Keimel
Dirk Kelly
Percy Mistry
Nanette Thomas
OGDENSBURG (3)
Frank Sanfilippo (I)
David Astor (I)
Ann Sekelski (I)
Richard Predmore
SANDYSTON-WALPACK REGIONAL (2-Sandyston)
Richard Hosking (I)
Jo-Ann Williamson (I)
SANDYSTON-WALPACK REGIONAL (1-Walpack)
Gregory Rosenkrans
STANHOPE (1)
Michael Bender (I)
STILLWATER (3)
John Tracey (I)
Alan Jones
Dennis DeGroat (I)
SUSSEX-WANTAGE (3)
Thomas Card (I)
John C. Nuss
Roudolph Solar
VERNON (3)
Cynthia Auberger (I)
Douglas F. Castellana (I)
Gaylon N. Powell (I)
David DeMartino
Edward DeYoung
Showing posts with label Z) Hardyston Twp. Recall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Z) Hardyston Twp. Recall. Show all posts
20080217
Fighting the odds: Residents in Hardyston, Sparta attempt rare recall elections
December 30, 2007
By STEPHEN J. NOVAK
Recall elections are not common in
Though recalls have been attempted before in
Yet residents in two neighboring townships,
In Hardyston, about 1,350 residents supported a move to recall School Board President Marbeth Boffa after the controversial firing of popular school administrator Dominic Fest-ante. If the recall is successful and Boffa is forced to give up her position, it would be only the second recall of a school official in
As it stands, it is only the third time, at least for
In
State election laws say that a petition for a recall election like the one promised by the first petition's organizer at a council meeting last week will require the endorsement of about 3,000 people — a full quarter of Sparta's approximately 12,000 registered voters, McCabe said.
"It's a huge undertaking," she said. "The people doing the petitions need to be ready to do a lot of work."
Gaining confidence
The Hardyston petition was completed earlier this month having gathered 1,350 signatures, 200 more than what they needed. The committee that organized the petition requested the recall be held with the regular school board election in April, which will eliminate the cost of a special election.
Though the recall committee did not attach its reasons for the recall when it submitted its petition, members have said that the effort was fueled not only by the school board's dismissal of Festante but also by the way it was done. Over the course of three months, the board voted to renew Festante's contract, then to rescind it, then reaffirmed its decision at a raucous public meeting in July.
Though history indicates that a recall will be hard to pull off, one committee member said it is "important to try, at least." Boffa could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The newly announced recall effort in
Wolosky he is confident he will be able to obtain all of the necessary signatures for a recall. The first petition earlier this month to bring the utility to referendum was a chance to "buy more time" and "build confidence" for a recall, he said.
There was continued interest in signing the referendum petition after it was completed, and though recall efforts are limited to 160 days after announcing the intention, "we'll do it in a week, two weeks," he said.
The desire for a recall is "more than the garbage thing," Wolosky said. "It's about First Amendment rights. Again and again, the people felt the three (councilmen) who were voting against them ... were condescending and had their minds set."
Promises kept
Sparta Mayor Michael Spekhardt, Deputy Mayor Brian Brady and Councilman Manny Goldberg — all of whom were elected in 2006 — are being threatened with the recall, but Spekhardt said the council's accomplishments should support them in such an event.
"The idea of a resignation would probably be appealing to my wife and children," he said Friday, paraphrasing a statement he made at the previous night's meeting, "but I did make a promise to the people of
Spekhardt said he has achieved many of his election goals — sharing services with the county by merging health departments, working more closely with the Sparta Board of Education through joint meetings and cutting spending on the budget.
"Anybody who voted for me shouldn't be disappointed," he said. "I've done what I said I was going to do. ... If we're going to be the first town to go to referendum for garbage (service), we might as well be the first town to recall an official who made good on his promises."
The decision on the garbage utility came after more than seven hours of public comments, most of them opposing the service as it was presented. It was "a tough decision," Spekhardt said, but one that will benefit "90 percent of the town" by providing pickup at a cheaper rate than private services. Much of the vocal opposition, at least in the reasons presented at meetings, is based on "misinformation," he said.
A referendum on the garbage ordinance is anticipated for March. The clerk's office will handle all of the verifications and arrangements necessary prior to the election and the county will handle the operations the day of the vote, McCabe said. If there is a recall, it is possible that it could happen at the same time as the referendum; though it is also possible it might fall around the time of the regular May election or be done in a special, separate vote.
"It all depends on the timing," she said.
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