JACKSON'S NEW ZONING BOARD MEMBERS USED AS PAWNS TO PLAY BALL WITH GEORGE GILMORE'S FAVORITE PLAYERS



Photo caption: Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore up at the podium at the Ocean County Board of Commissioners 2025 reorganization meeting. Photo Credit: Ocean County Public Information Office.


The new members of the Jackson Township Zoning Board of Adjustment are working very hard to do massive changes to their roster of professionals.


The rest of the Board is accusing these members of doing this simply as political moves on behalf of the Township Council.


The Board has been served for the past number of years by Attorney Ryan Murphy Esq. of Gertner Murphy LLC, Engineer Evan Hill of EDH Engineering and Traffic Engineer / Planner Ernie Peters of Remington & Vernick Engineers.


The Council has just appointed Kenneth Bressi to replace Greg Stafford-smith who just months ago was propelled to Vice Chair. Bressi will fill Stafford-smith's unexpired term which ends June 30 2025. The Council also appointed Jason Such to serve as an alternate member (who can only vote if a regular member is absent) for a term expiring December 31, 2026.


Bressi and Such are the newest members, followed by the Board's two frum members Shira Parnes and Moshe Heiman.


The first order of business at the Board's reorganization meeting last week was appoiting a new engineer as Mr. Hill withdrew from the position.


Chairwoman Lynne Bradley advocated the importance of hiring professionals who are already familiar with the Township, as such she recommended the Board bring over their long time Traffic Engineer / Planner Ernie Peters of Remington & Vernick Engineers to serve the engineer position.


Mr. Heiman vehemently opposed the move, stating that he had interviewed Mark Rohmeyer from Morgan Municipal Engineering and he strongly preferred to hire him instead.


Numerous board members questioned the appropriateness of a single member interviewing a single candidate instead of the full board interviewing all the candidates together.


Ultimately, Heiman won the day and got the Board to vote to appoint Morgan Engineering for the position. The Board also appointed Remington & Vernick Engineers as conflict engineer.


The Planner position was unanimously reappointed to Ernie Peters of Remington & Vernick Engineers.


For Traffic Engineer, Ms. Parnes advocated strongly for CME as they are "currently working on the Township's master plan." The rest of the Board ignored this plea and voted overwhelmingly for Remington & Vernick Engineers. The Board did agree however to appoint CME as conflict traffic engineer.


Then the Board got to the attorney position. That's when there was a sharp turn of events.


The Board received proposals from Gertner Murphy LLC, Dasti & Staiger, and Rothstein, Mandell, Strohm, Halm Cipriani, who would be represented by Robin La Bue and Jean Cipriani.


Ms. Bradley urged the Board to "vote for continuity," and again reiterated that she "is aware the governing body is pushing a certain agenda here, and that their political motives should not play any role in the Board's vote." Dr. Sheldon Hofstein echoed these words.


To the contrary, Mr. Bressi - who literally just joined the Board - argued that Ms. Cipriani was his choice.


Mr. Heiman joined this bandwagon.


Ms. Bradley turned to Jeff Purporo for assistance. He got the Board redirect their attention towards Mr. Murphy, ultimately leading to a motion and second to rehire Mr. Murphy.


Ms. Bradley, Dr. Hofstein, and Bob Hudak voted for Mr. Murphy.


Mr. Bressi and Mr. Heiman voted against Mr. Murphy.


Chrystabel Rosal abstained, stating "as a new member to this Board, Ms. Cipriani's senior experience would benefit me."


Ms. Parnes also abstained.


At that point the votes were counted and it was announced that the motion for Mr. Murphy was approved.


Less than 2 seconds later, Ms. Parnes asked if she could change her vote (to a no vote, so Mr. Murphy would lose).


The Board immediately fell into a heated discussion that lasted over half an hour.


Mr. Murphy stated that under Robert's Rules of Law and Order, a Board member can change their vote only prior to the votes being counted, after that point they need approval from the full Board to allow them to change their vote.


Ms. Parnes realized she was outvoted as the rest of the Board would certainly not allow her to change her vote.


Yet, Ms. Parnes pressed on and suggested perhaps she actually asked to change her vote prior to the votes being counted.


Ultimately, after heated discussion the Board closed the matter by ending the meeting and saying that everyone can go home and watch the video recording and decide at the next meeting as how to proceed.


Curious minds wonder why Ms. Parnes didn't originally vote for Ms. Cipriani and why she was so anxious to change her vote after the votes were counted.


It appears the Zoning Board was being pushed by the Township governing body to play for George Gilmore's team.


Apparently that is the price to pay for being given the opportunity to sit on the Zoning Board - needing to agree to give six-figure jobs to politically connected attorneys and engineers.


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ryan Murpy is way over his head on dealing with the public on the Jackson Zoning Board.

Common sense said...

What a clown show. The pressure is on the board members to do the swamps bidding, just like they do to the Zoning and Planing boards in Lakewood.
Don't let the corruption set foot in your meetings, or that's the point of no return.

Anonymous said...

I have watched several meetings and Ms Parnes does not seem qualified to sit on the zoning board. She is lacking some basic knowledge. Like what "abstain" means. She abstained. That should have been the end of her vote.