BEDMINSTER TWP. – Mayor Larry Jacobs was informally chosen by his Township Committee colleagues on Monday, Nov. 15, to serve a fourth year as mayor for 2022.
Jacobs was the unanimous choice to lead the all-Republican governing body, which annually holds a straw poll after the November general election to determine the mayor for the following year.
Committeewoman Gina Fernandez “proudly” nominated Jacobs, with Committeeman R. Colin Hickey seconding the nomination.
Participating in the straw poll were Jacobs, Fernandez, Hickey, Committeeman Doug Stevinson and Committeewoman Renee Mareksi. All are Republicans.
Jacobs thanked his committee colleagues “for your vote of confidence.”
Later in the meeting, committee members congratulated the mayor on the vote as well as the general election victory that he and Mareski had in seeking new three-year committee terms.
“You’ve done an exemplary job,” said Hickey.
Jacobs again expressed gratitude. “There’s a lot to accomplish in the next year so let’s get to it,” he said.
He is expected to be formally chosen and sworn in at the committee’s annual reorganization meeting, which is held in the first week in January.
A resident of Hillside Avenue, Jacobs is in his ninth year on the committee and is its senior member in length of service. He is an environmental attorney.
One topic that didn’t come up was where the committee will hold the reorganization meeting.
Except for this past January, when the township was in the depths of the pandemic, the committee has started the new year with a public gathering usually at a local club or restaurant offering optional food and drink.
The January 2020 reorganization meeting was held at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club on Rattlesnake Bridge Road after being held at Trump National Golf Club on Lamington Road each year from 2017 to 2019.
This past January, pandemic-related restrictions on indoor gathering led the committee to reorganize at town hall in a largely virtual format with no public present. Only Jacobs, Hickey and Mareski were physically present, while Stevinson and Fernandez participated from home via Zoom.
Committee members said just after Monday’s meeting that they planned to hold the 2022 reorganization meeting in-person but had yet to choose a locale.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Bernardsville News.