Wyckoff Mayor Kevin Rooney Stepping Down This Month

WYCKOFF, N.J. — Mayor Kevin Rooney will step down from his position next month as he prepares to represent the 40th Legislative District in the state Assembly.

Rooney said the Township Committee's Dec. 6 meeting will be his last one as mayor. It is the last meeting before Rooney's scheduled swearing in later on that month.

North Jersey Republicans selected Rooney last week to complete Rumana's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2017. The seat became available after Scott Rumana, a longtime assemblyman and former mayor of Wayne, resigned after the state Senate confirmed his appointment to a Superior Court judgeship last month.

Rooney said he plans on running for a full term.

State law prohibits elected officials from holding dual offices at the state and municipal levels. The law was changed about seven years ago and applied to all future elected officials, although some, like Paul Sarlo, were grandfathered into the provision because they already held dual offices.

"I would not hold dual offices anyway," Rooney said Monday. "My responsibility now is to represent 230,000 people to the best of my ability. I have to be available to them and do the job I was elected to do."

The 40th District contains portions of Bergen, Passaic, Essex, and Morris counties.

RELATED: Wyckoff Mayor, County Clerk Announce Run For District 40 Legislative Seats

The new Township Committee will appoint someone to replace Rooney. The Wyckoff Republican Committee will submit a list of candidates to the committee for consideration.

Rooney was first elected to the Township Committee in 2009 and served as mayor in 2011, 2015, and this year. He is a partner in his mother-in-law's business, HMS Global Holdings LLC and owns an equestrian center with his wife. He said his various leadership roles on the committee have "adequately" prepared him for his new state-level role.

Rooney has served as chairman of the governing body's finance and roads committees since 2011, along with the police committee, among others.

"I really have been part and parcel to every committee," Rooney said. "I think I am well versed in the struggles that residents of the 40th District have and have an understanding of what struggles municipalities go through on a daily basis that I am able to represent their interests as well."

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Pictured: Wyckoff Mayor Kevin Rooney — Patch file photo