Fom left: Douglass, Voll, Beck wait for a message from the committee.

Beck

Lower Republican Committee meets at senior center.

Members of public grew weary waiting for council meeting to begin.

From left: Lindsey and Voll.

Prev Next Enlarge

VILLAS — While members of the public and Mayor Michael Beck and Councilman Glenn Douglass waited for 90 minutes, Lower Township Republican Committee selected Walter Craig to fill an open Ward Two council seat.
Craig did not appear at Township Hall and the scheduled council meeting was cancelled.

Councilman Tom Conrad and Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare were on vacation leaving just Beck and Douglass for the regularly scheduled meeting. Beck and Douglass were prepared to wait for the Republican Committee to select the next council member, have that person sworn in and conduct a regular meeting.

Township Manager Michael Voll and four reporters walked a half block to the Lower Township Senior Center where the Republican Committee was meeting. Voll asked Chairman Jeff Lindsey to inform council when a new councilperson had been selected by the Republican committee and send the person to Township Hall to be sworn in.

The committee did not send official word to Beck and Douglass that Craig had been selected and the council meeting that never officially started, due to a lack of a quorum, adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Committeeman Jack Sparks, not acting as an official messenger, informed reporters that Craig was selected, winning 26 votes of the committee with John Rechner receiving 13 votes and Edie Kopsitz with three votes.

Beck was not pleased that the committee did not inform those waiting at Township Hall they had selected a councilperson.

“Nobody has told us, apparently their meeting is over,” he said. “Apparently there was a winner, we haven’t been officially notified and apparently the winner instead of coming here to Township Hall to be sworn in has decided to leave.”

A number of residents came to the meeting to speak about an ordinance to be introduced banning outdoor wood burning boilers. They left after waiting an hour.

Beck said a special meeting would have to be scheduled before the end of the month since two meetings per month are required under the Faulkner Act.

Speculation among members of the public was Craig did not arrive and allow the meeting to start because Beck and Douglass could have caused a 2-1 vote not to renew the contract of Michael Donohue as township solicitor, who is also the county Republican Chairman. Also up for a vote was an appointment to the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority.

“If the public is not outraged, what can I do?” asked Beck. “I’m outraged, I’m indignant.”
“There’s a whole town out that’s got to sit back and say ‘this isn’t right,’ and until they do, this is what you get,” he continued
Beck said a council meeting was scheduled and the “mere fact that you anticipate that perhaps a vote is going against you, is that cause to not show up to conduct the township’s business?”

He said if that was the case, he wouldn’t have attended a meeting for the last couple of years.
“When do I win a vote?” asked Beck. “Even when you lose, you show people what’s going on and I win by losing, they could have done the same thing.”

He said he believed it was the first time in the township’s history a meeting could not be held because “council people did not live up to their responsibilities.

In May 2008, then mayor Walter Craig was defeated by Glenn Douglass in the primary and stepped down as Lower Township Republican Party leader. Douglass defeated Craig 835-671 in a primary with low voter turn out.