Mayor Touts Progress In Brick As He Begins 10th Year In Office

BRICK, NJ — On New Year's Day 2014, John Ducey took the oath to serve as mayor of Brick Township, taking over as the town was still trying to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy.

On Tuesday, Ducey took a look back and touted his administration's accomplishments as he prepared to begin his 10th year as mayor during the Township Council's annual reorganization meeting.

The council unanimously chose Heather deJong to serve as council president, and Andrea Zapcic as council vice president for 2023, and they and Ducey paused to honor Arthur Halloran for his six years of service to the council. Halloran resigned from the council in October because he moved out of the area.

One of Ducey's primary goals has been reducing the township's debt, and he has highlighted that effort every year. The township had more than $119 million in debt when Ducey took office in 2014, and that number had been reduced by more than $31 million at the start of 2022, according to township budget documents. Ducey said Tuesday that the township debt reduction through the end of 2022 is $36,862,649, and praised the work of business administrator Joanne Bergin and chief financial officer Maureen Laffey-Berg.

That debt reduction, he said, came as the township took care of capital improvements including the renovations to the town's parks, with Cedar Bridge Manor Park and Mallard Point Park the remaining ones to be renovated, and the coming addition of scooter and BMX park at the Drum Point Sports Complex.

He praised the work of Police Chief James Riccio, "a great proponent of community policing," which Ducey said has been part of a three-pronged approach to fighting crime in the township, along with the resurrection of the Street Crimes Unit, which has focused on quality of life issues.

Ducey said the township weathered the storm of closures of big box stores and the town's program to encourage businesses to fill vacant stores "has filled over eight football fields worth of empty storefronts."

Ducey also noted the challenges of Sandy and the coronavirus pandemic, and said the township has taken on other challenges, passing ordinances to hold landlords accountable for tenants who are involved in repeated criminal activity, and to deal with properties that have been abandoned and fall into disrepair. He cited as successes the addition of the farmers market, the expansion of the SummerFest series and addition of Fall Fest, and the revival of the Brick Municipal Anti-Drug Coalition, which has promoted a number of efforts to deter drug use, particularly among kids.

He said the township has a number of positive things moving forward, with the renovation of the first aid building on Aurora Place into a modernized EMS building and new senior center, the Sportsdome that is in the works at the former Foodtown site, and the dialysis transportation for seniors that is going to be funded in part by a federal grant.

Ducey also took the time to praise and mention every council member who has served while he has been mayor, including Bob Moore and Susan Lydecker, who departed the council during Ducey's first term, Paul Mummolo, who stepped down at the end of his term in 2021, and Jim Fozman, who ran on the Ducey ticket when Ducey was elected mayor but parted ways in 2019 following a bitter internal conflict among the Democrats in Brick.

Ducey also heaped praise on Bergin, who was hired as business administrator in 2014.

"She has done so much for this town," Ducey said, noting that Bergin not only handles the duties of overseeing the town's departments but gives of her time at various Brick Township events, from parking cars at SummerFest to answering calls to the township's information desk.

"All the things spoken about tonight and much more are due to your hard work and determination to make me and all of us look good," Ducey said to Bergin.

Not everyone in attendance felt positively about Ducey's recap.

Nan Coll, a resident of Greenbriar I who has been a vociferous critic of the council for the last several years, repeated her critique of the fact that the council does not hold a separate caucus meeting to openly discuss the items on the agenda, particularly the consent agenda portion. Brick Township did away with the separate caucus meetings before Ducey became mayor.

She also told Ducey that she feels the removal of the red light cameras — which were controversial when they were installed and seen as a money-maker without really addressing public safety — was a mistake, particularly given the current spike in motor vehicle crashes.

Victor Fanelli also criticized Ducey and the council over contracts approved at the Dec. 27 council meeting that include raises for a number of township employees, including police officers, the Transport Workers Union, and the Teamsters Union. The unions represent the township's blue-collar workers such as recreation staff, senior services, clerical staff, supervisors and crossing guards, and EMS workers. The unions agreed to four-year contracts, with 6 percent raises in the first year of each contract except for the crossing guards, whose contract is for 5 percent in the first year. The contracts also include raises of 5 percent and lower in the following three years.

Fanelli said the raises add to the financial stress of seniors and those who are on fixed incomes, while rewarding township employees who make $100,000 on the backs of the seniors. Bergin said the majority of the township employees receiving the raises have salaries far less than $100,000.

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