This morning, Montclair Mayor Jackson, Deputy Mayor Robert Russo, 2nd Ward Councilor Robin Schlager, 3rd Ward Councilor Sean Spiller and Councilor-At-Large Rich McMahon met together at the town clerk’s office to pick up packets for the Montclair 2016 municipal election.
The group today represents all five council members who ran and won together on the Montclair 2012 slate.
Mayor Russo said he hopes this will be the first council ever to be re-elected in its entirety, including Councilors Renee Baskerville and First Ward Councilor Bill Hurlock who have both already picked up their packets.
When asked if this meant Mayor Jackson was finally off the fence about running again, he laughed and said “No I’m still on the fence,” but later confirmed he did take a packet to run for mayor.
Russo was the most talkative of the group, saying of the council “it has the best working relationship among the seven council members and has made progress for Montclair.”
Council member Spiller added “I feel like we have a great group. I’m excited about what we’ve done and what we could do.”
The group won’t be able to run again as a complete slate until March 7, when petitions are handed in and slates are able to officially form.
On the other big topic — the snow — Mayor Jackson said he had gotten a lot of compliments regarding snow removal. Russo also wanted to remind people not to blow snow into the streets. Spiller thought that Montclair’s use of brine before the storm made the streets easier to clear.
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We would like to congratulate Mayor Jackson on now also being on the Essex County payroll, but we are curious why no one seems to want to report that news.
“We would like to congratulate Mayor Jackson on now also being on the Essex County payroll, but we are curious why no one seems to want to report that news.”
Because no one seems to care about “conflicts.” The Spiller complaint continues to languish in court (unless it was decided, in which case I do not recall seeing it reported here). Some have suggested that Schlager’s service on the Town Council, while also being employed by MFEE, constitutes a conflict.
However one chooses to define “conflict,” it appears that people are more focused on debt reduction, taxes, infrastructure, schools.