Mayor: Wyckoff Committee's Vote On Mayoral Selection Was Correct

WYCKOFF, NJ — The Township Committee's decision to form a subcommittee to study alternative means of choosing the mayor was correct, Mayor Rudy Boonstra said.

Steven Joem submitted a petition with 900 signatures to the committee last month that presented the idea of researching other ways of selecting the mayor, including having voters elect someone to the position.

The five-person committee selects the mayor and deputy mayor annually. Residents have no say in the matter. The deputy mayor has been selected to the mayorship seven times in the last decade.

Boonstra urged Thursday that the subcommittee be formed immediately and that the petition, "is confusing in what it proposes to do and could be misleading to voters."

"The uncertainty about what the petition purports to do and not do would, I believe, cast a cloud over the November campaign when voters will be faced with very important decisions regarding their choice elected officials," Boonstra said in a statement. "By forming a committee to examine the options of how Wyckoff elects its mayor under the current form of government, the township's governing body will take the matter out of the political arena and give it the sober, in-depth examination it deserves without the politicization that can occur during campaigns."

Boonstra also said that having the bi-partisan committee look at the pros and cons of what the petition proposes, the taxpayers will "avoid any possible cost of conducting a referendum that would not be binding on the the governing body."

"Those who say the referendum is needed to 'take the temperature of the community' are missing the point of referendums," Boonstra said. "The public voting booth is not to be used to acquire polling data at the public's expense, nor should referendums be used for political purposes."

Boonstra also said he did not recall ever hearing from anybody who thought that changing the way the township elects it mayor is a "major priority for our community."

Residents have wondered by Brian Scanlan has never been elected to the town's highest, but largely ceremonial, position in his three council terms.

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Wyckoff Town Hall/Patch file photo