Eatontown Reorganizes for the New Year

In , sometimes it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The borough held its annual reorganization meeting on Jan. 1, which included a swearing-in of two returning council members and approving professional service providers and volunteers to serve on municipal boards for 2012. The morning meeting was also attended by Sen. Jennifer Beck and Deputy Director Freeholder John P. Curley.

Many of the names featured in the 54 resolutions noted on the meeting's agenda were familiar ones: residents returning to the planning board or Pride in Eatontown Committee.

were sworn back in to serve their second terms as councilmen after their November reelection.

Democrat Anthony Talerico was selected to serve again as council president, and many professional service providers were approved by council to serve the borough for the next year, including the borough's attorney, engineer and architect.

The evenly-split partisan council required the mayor, who is a Democrat, to cast the deciding vote as the three Republicans opposed the appointments of Gene Anthony as borough attorney and Edward Broberg of T&M Associates to serve as borough engineer.

Mayor Gerald Tarantolo said he was "honored to cast a vote in favor of (Anthony's) appointment."

According to the mayor before he cast the deciding vote, T&M Associates has provided engineering services to the borough for 45 years. "They probably know Eatontown better than any of us sitting here at this dais," he said.

Throughout the appointment process, Republican Councilman Kevin Gonzalez consistently opposed the appointment of any professional service providers who had increased their rates for 2012. They included:

• T&M Associates (Borough Engineer): 9 percent across the board
• Kevin Settembrino (Borough Architect): 14.7 percent increase
• Birdsall Services (Borough Special Projects Engineer): 2.9 percent increase

Talerico noted, "While fees are important, other qualitative factors are involved."

See the attached agenda for a full listing of all municipal appointments made by the Eatontown Borough Council for 2012.