BEDMINSTER TWP. – The township has a full, five-member dais once again.
Township Environmental Commission member Richard Costa of High Pond Lane was on Monday, Aug. 3 unanimously elected by the all-Republican Township Committee to succeed Renee Mareski, who resigned last month to relocate to Texas with her husband.
Costa, who was that evening sworn in by Mayor Larry Jacobs, now sits on the dais at least until the end of the year. Mareski’s seat expires at the end of 2027, meaning a permanent successor will have to be elected in November.
Costa was selected after the township’s Republican Municipal Committee (RMC) sought three candidates to present to the Township Committee. However, they found only two: Costa and Far Hills-Bedminster Assistant Fire Chief Carson Brienza.
Brienza, however, that night chose to step aside and endorse Costa. That left the dais with a choice: either go with Costa or, since the RMC had to present three candidates and only offered two, they could nominate someone else.
As it turned out, everyone was pleased with Costa, who is president of his homeowner’s association (HOA) in The Hills as well as a member of the township’s Environmental Commission.
Asked what his priorities would be if he served, Costa told the committee members that their priorities were his. “You already have a winning team,” he said.
He added that his corporate background would also be of benefit. Costa is director of industrial design at OneWorld DMG in Whitehouse Station.
“I understand how business works, efficiently and inefficiently,” he said, saying he “would like to keep the township committee, keep government efficient and I think I’m qualified.”
He likened the committee seat to serving on the HOA, only larger in scope.
To support his pitch, he cited two times he put his problem-solving to work.
One was acquiring generators to provide HOA members with power during blackouts after Jersey Central Power & Light was hesitant to fix the problem.
The other was when he merged two roofing and siding projects totaling $5 million into one, saving the association about $600,000 although it meant an HOA increase of $49 a month.
“It was well-received by our residents,” he said. “For us, it was all about creating transparency.”
According to his LinkedIn account, Costa has been with One Design for 25 years. He previously held industrial design positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T and has, according to his account, been “awarded over 35 US Utility and Design Patents for the telecommunication, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.”
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Bernardsville News.