$100K Pricetag Possible For Run-Off Election In Manchester

MANCHESTER, NJ — The run-off election for mayor and two township council seats may cost Manchester Township $100,000.

The Township Council on Monday night approved an emergency appropriation of up to $100,000 for expenses to conduct the Dec. 13 run-off, which was delayed by the state from the original date of Dec. 6 because of delays in Mercer County.

Run-off elections are required under state law when no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes cast. Towns have the responsibility to pay for run-off elections.

Official results of the Nov. 8 election show incumbent Mayor Robert Hudak received 7,778 votes, 44.21 percent of the 17, 594 votes cast in the mayoral contest. Robert Arace received 5,455, 31 percent, and Ken Seda received 4,348, or 24.71 percent.

In the council race, Councilwoman Joan Brush was the top vote-getter with 7,202, and Timothy Poss was second with 6,870. Joseph Hankins received 5,223 and Roxanne Conniff had 5,169. Gloria E. Adkinson received 4,360 and Karen Sugden received 4,123.

The Mercer County delays were due to issues with the voting machines not reading ballots on Election Day. Mercer County election officials completed their certification of the general election just before Thanksgiving.

Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who signed the executive order delaying the run-offs as acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy was away, said the delay was necessary to give election officials time to prepare materials and ballots for the run-off election.

"We want to make sure every voter’s voice is heard, whether that be from in-person voting or vote-by-mail," she said.

The executive order included the following provisions:

• Schools that were used as polling places in the general election may shift to remote instruction fo the run-off election day, to provide safety for the students.
• Vote-by-mail ballots must be sent to voters who voted by mail for the Nov. 8 election on or before Nov. 28.
• To allow for the signature verification and cure process, the certification deadline for the run-off has been postponed to Dec. 30.

In Manchester, that means an extra week of sparring between Hudak and Arace and their running mates for the Township Council. Brush and Poss, who is a newcomer, are running with Hudak; Arace's council running mates are Hankins and Conniff.

At the Nov. 14 Township Council meeting, Hudak and Arace picked up where they left off before Election Day: trading barbs about development.

Hudak reiterated the details of the 2004 court settlement governing the Heritage Minerals site, which is owned by Hovsons.

The settlement, with Hovsons, the Pinelands Commission, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Fair Share Housing Alliance, state Council on Affordable Housing, and Manchester Towship, limited Hovsons to building 2,450 age-restricted homes, including 200 affordable housing units and a small amount of commercial development on 1,000 acres of the 7,000-acre site, land that was used in mining operations years ago.

"It is part of our affordable housing requirement," Hudak said. "You can't just upend the approval."

He said he opposes expanding the number of housing units that could be built at the site — something that was proposed while Kenneth Palmer was mayor and was ultimately vetoed by DEP.

Hudak also said suggestions that the township purchase the site for open space were simply beyond the town's ability to do so.

"The value of the property ... is well above $125 million," he said.

Arace, who has repeatedly accused Hudak of holding a secret meeting, questioned him directly at the Nov. 14 meeting about whether he had met with developer D.R. Horton about a nearly 4,000-unit development.

Business administrator Brandon Umba interjected and told Arace he was the person who spoke with D.R. Horton representatives.

"Any person that comes to this town, I am obligated to meet with them," he said.

Arace repeatedly asked for documents about the meeting, but Umba told him there are no records the town kept because there has been no formal proposal submitted. Umba also said D.R. Horton was told a proposal that exceeds the settlement won't be approved in Manchester, because the DEP rejected the attempt under Palmer's administration.

"The plan you're referring to, it can't happen there, because it's not zoned properly. It's senior zoning," Umba told Arace.

"Anyone can come in, they can propose anything," Umba said. "We have to be able to meet with them." He said being unable to meet with developers before an application is submitted would create bigger problems, such as a property where 350 housing units were under consideration until the preliminary meeting was held.

"That's my fiduciary responsibility to this town to meet with them," Umba said as Arace pressed him about having met with D.R. Horton. "If they came with 2,450 units, I need to then let council know we have a developer that's willing to follow the settlement agreement."

Arace asked why the D.R. Horton proposal wasn't posted publicly, calling it a lack of transparency.

Umba told him it could not be posted as it was never properly submitted to the town for review. There is no formal rejection for the same reason — there had not been a formal application, Umba said.

"If a plan is not going to be approved, if it's not being properly introduced to the town, I can't go and then out the developer who came to the town and said 'I want to discuss something with you.' You're then putting the township into the potential of being sued," Umba said.

D.R. Horton is the developer in a hotly contested 59-home proposal before the Brick Township Planning Board that appears to be headed for litigation, regardless of the Brick planning board's decision.

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