Mark Fury’s campaign ads proclaim his leadership style and 1990s mayoral experience in Plainfield as big reasons voters should select him. But Fury refused to discuss that experience with The Mount Holly Reporter, saying:

“If you want to write about management styles from 30 years ago, be my guest.” Mark Fury

And his August 20^th campaign announcement said

“All my heroes have FBI files. I got mine from following in their footsteps.” Mark Fury

But such comparisons to slain civil rights leaders naturally beg the question: what footsteps did Fury take that would attract an FBI investigation? His record seems a critical thing that voters should know about.

Unfortunately, when The Reporter offered Fury the opportunity to clarify his record, he refused to discuss it beyond a few perfunctory email comments [see below]. His decision limits The Reporter’s options: either leave Fury’s campaign claims unexplored or provide readers with a review of historic news articles that don’t have the benefit of Fury’s input.

A Review Of Mayor Fury Press Reports: 1993 – 1997

The Courier News described the 35 year-old Mark Fury as a confident corporate attorney who wanted to be mayor of Plainfield in 1993. Fury’s campaign slogan from that year, “Clean House With A Fury”, is being echoed by his current campaign. And several articles from that time described the Democratic party as being excited by the brash candidate.

The periodical “Tap into Plainfield” reported that the Democratic party backed Fury in a 1993 primary race which ousted the incumbent mayor, Harold Mitchell. The Courier News described a Democratic party engaged in pitched factional battles for power. The Star-Ledger noted that party Chairman Jerry Green announced Mr. Fury secured the “organization line”, which gave him the boost he needed to prevail in a crowded field of candidates.

But within the space of 4 years, Fury had burned the bridges between him, Chairman Green and a majority of the Democratic organization which pushed Fury off that same Democratic line in 1997. A few articles and letters to the editor revealed that the party excitement of 1993 had been replaced by disappointment amongst a vocal group of former supporters and colleagues:

“I worked hard to elect Mark Fury four years ago, but I am not supporting him this year ... Fury’s conduct illustrated his attitude toward our citizens and elected officials: do it my way or else!” Dorothy Gutenkauf

The Star-Ledger quoted Fury as saying he could handle the defeat but could not live with “handing the City over to the charlatans and carpetbaggers who will now take possession.”

Articles from late 1993 indicate that the hard feelings began before Fury took office. During December 1993, The Courier News reported that members of the public were upset that Fury tried to get his salary increased before he took office. It would have passed except outgoing Mayor Harold Mitchell vetoed the rise in Fury’s pay for Mayor, which was a part time position.

“The salary ordinance, for which Mayor-elect Fury made a personal pitch to council members and the public, would have increased the Mayor’s compensation from $10,000 to $25,000 ” Mayor Mitchell

Another description of Fury’s leadership style was offered by a fellow elected official regarding the 1994 Plainfield budget debate. Mayor Fury sued his own Plainfield City Council to stop them from cutting $490,000 from his budget:

“Its really unfortunate that it’s come to this. This all could have been resolved had [Fury] the courtesy to send someone to the last budget session”… “I think Fury’s problem is that he cannot accept any level of criticism. Under the charter, one of [Council’s] duties is to set the budget. But he clearly does not want us to exercise our authority” Council Member Edward Sitar.

On February 20, 1995, the Courier News reported on a Fury budget press conference. “Changes including salary increases for department heads and council members are expected to be in the next City budget, Mayor Mark Fury says.” The article went on to say that Fury “believes City Council will work toward having a full time mayor and will also seek raises for themselves.” Finally, the article quoted Fury as saying:

“The people of Plainfield do have one problem. They want something for nothing.”

The articles note that despite the contentious relationship between Fury and various members of the community, he balanced budgets over successive years of his tenure.

But this was not enough to retain the support of activists like Gutenkauf, who said Fury promoted the building of a new school at a contaminated plot of land adjacent to railroad tracks. When the school board rejected his plan, Gutenkauf said he “threatened to initiate a referendum” that would replace the school board with “an appointed Board of Education that [Fury] could control”.

Regarding the 1997 FBI investigation, articles indicate that the FBI began an investigation into Plainfield’s vendor relationships, hiring practices and stewardship of public funds under Mayor Fury. The Mount Holly Reporter wrote to the FBI to get a better sense of the investigation and what it uncovered but the FBI refused to reveal anything about their investigation, citing “privacy” concerns.

Mr. Fury did not comment directly to The Reporter on the FBI investigation. But he did give a vague response about his conflicts with the Democratic party saying:

“The reason they primaried me is because I wouldn’t knuckle under to what I perceived as inappropriate demands.” Mark Fury

MUA RECORD

During 2025, Mr. Fury was appointed as a Commissioner to the Mount Holly Municipal Sewerage Authority by Mayor Banks and Deputy Mayor DiFolco and council member Lew Brown. While he receives a $4,500/yr salary for that sewer authority job, he had difficulty attending many of the 2025 meetings and ironically had tax liens placed on his High Street home for failure to pay sewer bills. As of the date of this article he has not paid any 2026 sewer bill for his home.

2026: “CLEAN UP” REVIVAL

The 2026 version of a candidate Mark Fury recycles much of his 1990s persona. His 1993 slogan about “cleaning house” is now “Clean It Up”. And his leadership style, which included calling his Plainfield opponents “charlatans and carpetbaggers”, also appears to have returned for the 2026 race.

In an October 5^th, 2026 email to The Reporter, Fury previewed his leadership style by saying “I don’t get pushed around by powerful interests. I can tell my friends “No” as easily as I can perfect strangers.”

Shortly after that email, he posted denigrating remarks on Facebook aimed at former Fire Commissioner Joseph Sams and others. Fury described Sams as being “small minded” and then said that sitting council members Astor and Burkus are “lacking vision”, not “brave” and do not stand for anything. He also denigrated the military service record of his opponent Pierre Ford by saying that “I’ve been a boss for a long time”… “since before you earned your first stripe.”

• Its important to know that running to be a council member in our “Council/Manager” form of governemnt requires the ability to work collaboratively with fellow council members since all five have essentially the same level of authority. A council member who wants to be “a boss” could quickly wind up alienating colleagues.

WHAT DOES FURY INTEND TO CLEAN UP?

It’s hard to know what Fury intends to clean up, because he won’t discuss it. But perhaps Mr. Fury is hoping to clean up the record of Mayor Chris Banks and Deputy Mayor Rich DiFolco, with whom he is allied. The Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Township Manager [Josh Brown] all have Fury signs on their lawns. Fury moved his campaign into the former headquarters building for the Brown/Banks/DiFolco campaign. And Township manager Josh Brown has been seen deploying Fury signs around town. So when Mr. Fury claims he can say “No” to his friends, it seems likely that he is talking about Rich DiFolco, Chris Banks and Josh Brown.

Had Fury decided to have the dialogue requested by The Reporter, we could have asked precisely what messy issues he hopes to clean up. Here is a list of issues that the Brown/Banks/DiFolco team have yet to clean up:

• The late budget process: a 9.7% tax increase was delivered by Township Manager Josh Brown in May but there is a June deadline for passage. Other towns deliver their draft budgets in February.

• The fumbled Health & Safety Zone surrounding Virtua Hospital that was redesigned and passed by the Planning Board a second time.

• The fumbled Historic Preservation Zone which didn’t even get a vote at the Planning Board.

• The $100,000 spent annually on unknown public documents at the Iron Mountain warehouse.

• The Truck Ban ordinance 2022-10 which still sits in limbo awaiting Resolutions of Support.

• The unfilled seats on the Environmental Committee, Planning Board, MUA and UEZ.

• The Speeding and Traffic Safety issues in town.

• The lack of reports from the Township Manager at Council Meetings.

• The “Call For Service” web-app removed from the Township Web Page.

• The lack of a user-friendly website.

• The malfunctioning sound system at council meetings.

• The $20,000 spent on a contractor to make leaf-compost that never makes it into the gardens of Mount Holly residents.

• The perennial complaints by residents that their questions to council are never answered.

Fury’s recycled “Clean Up” campaign theme conjures an out of control government that needs a short leash, but the unsettling truth is that Fury is aligned with the very politicians and administrators who have exercised complete control of Mount Holly government for years and failed to clean up many issues.

The Mount Holly Reporter interviewed Fire District Commissioner candidate Gary Brotz on October 22, 2026.

Brotz focused on his perspective as a Certified Public Accountant and his proposals for fiscal transparency and budget scrutiny, establishing good working relationships with the firefighting professionals, and his commitment to better information sharing on the Board and with the public.

When asked why residents should vote for a candidate like him who is not a firefighter, Brotz noted that fire commissioners serve in a governance and policy capacity: focusing on setting policy, evaluating contracts, reviewing budgets and making acquisitions. As a Certified Public Accountant, Brotz believes his background brings needed financial expertise to the five-member board of commissioners.

Addressing the adversarial climate of board meetings, Brotz criticized the unequal distribution of information, noting that some commissioners received agendas and resolutions ahead of time while others receive them only an hour before public meetings. Brotz said transparency demands that meeting details be shared with every commissioner simultaneously so as to avoid the conflict and litigation that marred the past 18 months.

When asked about leadership style and factional conflicts on the board over the last 2 years, Brotz said his leadership approach focuses on collaboration and reaching consensus. He intends to work closely with operational staff like Chief Mason and Captain Rob Allen and emphasized that commissioners should support operational goals without micromanaging.

Brotz said that the Fire District would benefit from a months-early budget review process. He would like to see a public budget workshop months before the annual budget is finalized. He said that the Fire District has used an imprecise budgeting process that does not conform to business sector practices where review of expenditures are a line by line exercise. Brotz wants to work through these things with the finance clerk and department director, moving away from rounding line items to the nearest thousand dollars in favor of a budget based on actual prior-year totals. He is calling for the publishing of all checks, expenses, and expenditures so the public can verify actual department spending.

When asked for specific examples of potential budget reduction areas Brotz said that legal expenses seemed like a good place to look. He noted that if the District can comply with Open Public Meeting Act requirements [see rothmel wins carty out ], it’s reasonable to assume significant savings could be achieved since spending in years prior to the OPMA litigation were about $40,000 less. Further he noted that vehicle leases might be re-evaluated since some of the leased vehicles appear to be underutilized. These leases account for about $35,000 annually in expenses.

Brotz provided The Reporter with a graph and tables detailing District spending.

Mr. Brotz will be interviewed separately.

The Reporter’s first question addressed a central focus of her opponents – is firefighting experience necessary to be a commissioner?

Logue said it is not necessary to have firefighting experience and pointed out that law actually forbids holding certain active firefighting roles while also being a commissioner due to conflicts of interest it could invite. Logue hastened to add that she would welcome creation of the five standing committees called for by Fire District Bylaws which would include firefighter personnel working alongside board members. The practice has not been implemented during her time on the Board.

The Reporter’s raised another question which was a concern of her opponents – is it fair to say there is a “Romper Room” demeanor to Board meetings?

Logue said that Rossell’s observation was “not a poor characterization” although she likely disagrees with him regarding the reasons for that atmosphere. Logue believes one of the biggest causes of conflict is information “gatekeeping” that was practiced by the Chair of the Board. “I was often not provided with agendas, reports, or resolutions more than 24 hours before I was expected to vote upon them, if they were even provided at all.” The withholding of information caused Logue to ask probing questions which not only caused meetings to last longer than they otherwise might have, but it also caused an unnecessary “adversarial” atmosphere.

“I’ve never been able to stand down from a bully, and the people of Mount Holly put me in that seat to be their voice, to ask questions and make an informed vote. I think had I behaved more meekly, it would be standing in contrast to who I am as a person and who they elected me to be in that seat.”

The Reporter asked for comment on the Open Public Meetings Act violations that resulted in costly litigation for the fire district.

“I attempted to resist those violations and brought it to the attention of my fellow commissioners but to no avail. The fact that a majority of our board was then going to spend taxpayer dollars to defend an action they had to know was not only in violation of state law but unequivocally in violation of our bylaws is concerning to me as a taxpayer. Had a member of our community not used his wealth to pursue persistent lawsuits, that illegal action would have stood unchallenged. The people of Mount Holly should not have sue in order to expect law abiding governance.”

For more about the lawsuit, see rothmel wins carty out

The Reporter asked if a conflict of interest exists where a husband [George Gaskill] gets elected to Commissioner and his wife [June Gaskill] already serves as a Commissioner and where Mr. Gaskill is an firefighting officer for the District.

Logue expressed concern over public perception and potential conflicts of interest where a husband and wife serve together while the husband is actively involved in departmental operations. “I can envision scenarios where one or both of them might face a choice of having to recuse from votes. I don’t know why someone would seek this role that has so much potential for conflict of interest that could invite lawsuits. I would rather foster other people who would very much like to do this work on their behalf”.

Logue added that “Commissioner June Gaskill has repeatedly made it clear that she will prioritize her personal goals against the advice of Counsel, and above the long term success of the District. Her husband George Gaskill has been publicly supportive of those decisions and the people of this town have no evidence that he would serve any differently.” See George Gaskill Steps Down

The Reporter brought up the issue of the State of NJ requirement for a 5 year plan and asked for comment.

Logue noted the success of Chief Mason’s five-year plan to address operational shortcomings. She said his version of the Duty Crew Program incorporates a volunteer requirement which has driven local recruitment and boosted daytime coverage. Chief Mason recently reported that roughly 15 to 18 volunteers have joined, with additional candidates pending. The district has identified small stipend reductions to stretch funding further, aiming to combine paid shifts and volunteer coverage more effectively.

Other Comments from Logue

Logue said she has a deep family history in firefighting, which gives her an understanding of the support required for firefighter safety needs and operational demands. She said she is committed to public accountability, transparent governance, and adhering strictly to state statutes and local bylaws. She emphasized that she intends to continue supporting Chief Mason’s State approved operational plan and modified recruitment efforts and hopes the Board will begin to resume a more appropriate role within the district that better reflects the bylaws.

Notice the double yellow line which takes an abrupt turn from the middle of Garden Street in its 1st block. That yellow line gets erased by drivers who ignore it because it squeezes the westbound lane width into something resembling a stingy parking space.

Why, you may ask, did Alaimo Associates do this? Because the 2nd block of Garden Street must accomodate parking on its eastbound lane and so the double yellow line is moved over to split the remaining space down the middle. Drivers ignore it there too.

Are we blaming the drivers? No. Definitely not. In fact, as a resident of Garden Street, I can recount the accident of a poor driver who attempted to comply with the traffic lines and for his efforts was rewarded with an impact by a piece of dislodged curbing into his passenger side tire. The large tree to the left of the approaching white car in the photo had pushed the curb out of the ground.

What can be done? A physical reconstruction of Garden Street is essentially impossible. But reducing the speed limit from 30 MPH to 25 MPH is not impossible. It would help slow traffic which would reduce the danger of collisions if they do occur. Mount Holly could also move to get its truck ban ordinance in effect. That ordinance, which was passed in 2022, is still sitting on the books, unable to be enforeced because our Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Township Manager have not done enough to get Eastampton and Westampton to issue “Resolutions of Support”. Those resolutions are necessary to get the ordiance effective.

Council members Astor and Burkus, who were not informed of the stakeholder process, spoke at the Planning Board meeting and asked when they met and who was invited. Township Manager Josh Brown has so far not responded to their questions.

Two members of that stakeholder group have come forward to The Reporter, both telling similar stories about how members were led to believe that multiple meetings would happen. Only one meeting was convened at which some members expressed objections to the Preservation Plan draft and others thought that another meeting was needed to better explore the plan.

The Reporter contacted Township Manager Josh Brown, Mayor Chris Banks and Deputy Mayor Rich DiFolco about the stakeholder process and asked for comment. Speficially, The Reporter said “That stakeholders indicated MH ignored their input. Based on the resident objections, the Board objections and the Stakeholder statements, it appears the Historic Preservation element failed to get a vote because MH mishandled the input it received.”

Niether Brown, Banks or DiFolco have responded to the inquiry.

Below is a recitation of what Mr. Rossel had to say to The Reporter on 8/13/26 along with other post-interview information relevant to his candidacy. Note that The Reporter offered Rossell an opportunity to review the text of the interview. He was asked that if parts were inaccurate, he provide comment to The Reporter. A copy was delivered to Rossel’s home but he did not provide feedback.

a. Yes, Jason Carty is running his campaign.

b. Rossell said he engaged Carty as campaign manager because Rossell has no experience with political campaigns or raising the money needed to undertake one.

c. Rossell rejected the notion raised by The Reporter that Carty’s control over his campaign would translate to influence of Rossell as a Commissioner.

d. Rossell’s wife Lorretta also rejected this notion on Facebook later in August when she posted the following:

e. A few days later Rossell posted a denial on Facebook which said that no one, including his wife or Jason Carty, should speak for him as the candidate. The post made clear that his wife believed she was accurately expressing what Rossell said to her in a discussion.

f. On the same day as Rossell’s Facebook denial, The NJ Globe printed an article which stated that Jason Carty had also made a denial, claiming he does not manage Rossell’s campaign.

g. During the Rossell interview he acknowledged that he did not have email or experience with social media or web communication.

h. Rossell suggested that “taxpayers” who come to fire district meetings to complain are “part of the problem, not part of the solution”.

“This is my problem. You got all these taxpayers coming to these meetings and screaming ‘Carty This, Carty That’. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution. They don’t come down and say, ‘hey, can I have an application so I can join?’ ” Tom Rossell

i. The Reporter challenged Rossell’s statement, noting that some people don’t have the time or desire to volunteer or are not physically able to serve as a firefighter. Rossell responded that many fire district jobs do not require extreme fitness.

j. When The Reporter asked Rossell if he believed residents did not have the right to complain unless they volunteer, he said, “It’s not that you can’t complain, but you don’t understand what firefighters have to go through every year to be certified”.

k. Rossell objected to the fractious debates that have characterized Commissioner meetings during the March 2025 – Sept 2026 timeframe when Mr. Carty’s employment was an issue. Rossell said those meetings reminded him of the 1950s -1970s TV show for preschoolers named “Romper Room”.

l. Rossell said the Board of Commissioners needs members with firefighting experience and that his 47-year tenure provides “deep operational experience”

m. Rossell said an example of how much the current Commissioners don’t appreciate what is important is that they did not approve Tim Young’s Safety Report.

[see https://www.themounthollyreporter.org/p/safety-concerns-at-fire-district ]

n. The Reporter pointed out that Young’s safety report was never given to the full Board for review because Young addressed it to Chairman Jules Thiessen [Saucier was substituting at that meeting] who did not present it to the other Commissioners [Rosemarie Logue, Jeena Sheppard or June Gaskill].

o. Rossell then agreed it is Thiessen’s responsibility to schedule consideration of the safety issues and questioned why it had not been done since it was public knowledge after being published by Jason Carty’s “Mount Holly News” and by The Reporter.

p. Fire Truck Accident: Rossell denied that he was distracted or reckless when driving the fire truck. He said the private alley he was on had little room to maneuver, and he did not hear a warning from a firefighter that he was about to crash.

“They are trying to get me out…everybody is going to lie one way or another”. Tom Rossell

q. The Reporter pushed back on Rossell’s characterization that lies would circulate about the accident, noting that people often have different recollections about what they witness.

r. The Reporter was told by a Fire District representative that the accident is still under investigation and no decision has been made about whether Rossell should continue to drive the trucks or not.

Additional Notes: Rossell’s statement about Jason Carty managing his campaign came out just as news broke that Carty had been charged with election petition fraud. If Carty is still associated with the campaign, paper-trail evidence will likely not surface until after the election. Required state election paperwork from Rossell is already overdue, which may be attributable to his lack of campaign experience [see above]. If you want to search Rossell’s name at elec.state.nj.us , click Public Info, then View a Report, then View a Candidate Committee Report. As of 10/8/26, Rossell had not filed any forms with the state. At a minimum, he was required to file form A-1.

Named PACK (Powerful And Caring Kids), the program aims to build a community of children and their families who will learn and share strategies for stopping and dealing with bullying in the schools and elsewhere. Each two-hour event includes discussion, hands-on activities and shared food to help build community and work on the bullying issue.

This school year’s first event will be on Sunday, November 15, beginning at 11: 15 am at the Mt Holly Friends Meetinghouse (corner of High & Garden St, Mt. Holly). The event will include breakfast snacks, an intro meeting, a sign-making session and a MARCH FOR KINDNESS down High Street, ending back at the Meetinghouse by 1:30 or earlier.

Signs may be made on that day, or at Mt. Holly’s Fun Fall Day on October 31 (Look for sign making table at the Meetinghouse). You may also make your signs ahead of the time: Use slogans such as : Time for Kindness/ Stand up Against Bullying/ Mt Holly supports PACK/ Kindness Costs Nothing: Splurge/ Bullying Has to Stop, or other signs of your choice with a kindness theme.

All are invited to the free PACK events, but it is appreciated if you email Doris Pulone at dpulone@comcast.net to be assured we have enough sign materials for you.

“She was taken away in one [PD] vehicle, I'm not sure if handcuffed… I saw two empty tall cans of Mike's Twisted Tea on the hood of the second police car. She admitted to the owner of the red SUV that she had been drinking.” Madison Avenue Resident

The resident said that she hopes to convince the Mount Holly Police Department that Madison Avenue needs more traffice enforcement.

The Reporter just received the police report which confirmed that the driver was charged with a DWI and multiple other infractions including failure to posesses a drivers license, registration or insurance.

In order to save the truck, the driver had to dump his load on Sussex Road near its intersection with Woodlane.

Reached for comment after the incident, Councilwoman Kim Burkus stated that the fire was extinguishe quickly but left a stinking obstruction in the street. She said that IWS dispatched a dumpster to the location for a clean up but that a request for a Public Works backhoe to expedite trash transfer to the dumpster was rejected by Township Manager Josh Brown who also failed to answer phone calls from various officials.

Chief Cliff Spencer responded via email that the PD would be on the lookout. It didn’t take long.

On Friday night the PD had spoken with a number of dump truck drivers who were hauling millings from the the facility off Maple Avenue and the Bypass and taking them to a job outside of Mount Holly. The PD reported that the drivers were very cooperative and immediately took steps to change the truck route.

Reached for comment, Chief Spencer said

“I’m pleased that our officers immediately took appropriate action to address the issue. Whether it’s a major crime or a quality-of-life concern, I want our officers to provide the same level of responsive, professional service to the residents of Mount Holly. If there is something we can reasonably do to help, we’re going to do it.”

The Chief stated that he really appreciated the resident contact on this issue and added that a similar report helped resolve a problem at Creek Island Park.

The rejected plan is now back with Environmental Resolutions Inc who wrote the document in consultation with a group of “stakeholders”. Council member Kim Burkus, who was in the audience, sharply questioned who was on the stakeholder group but she was not given a single name.

Contacted after the meeting, Council member Tara Astor stated that “all this happened behind closed doors”. Ms. Astor has been particularly active in attempting to get more residents who have applied to the township appointed to open seats on township boards and commissions. But Mayor Banks and Deputy Mayor DiFolco have not supported her efforts to populate these administrative bodies with people who have submitted applications [see article link below].

“I heard about a historic ‘subcommittee’ from the audience just like other residents, but I have no idea who those people are.” Tara Astor

Readers may want to review the following article about the townships failure to fill its open board and committee seats.

Some Concerns Raised During The Meeting

Board member Bob Adler asked whether public communication should have happened before the plan was brought to the Land Use Board.

Board member Stephan Stafford asked whether historically significant African American portions of town should have been in the zone.

Board member Scott Bayley asked whether a Board of Commissioners should have seated and been part of “stakeholders” who evaluated the draft plan.

Resident Audrey Winzinger stated that the old plan and Board of Commissioners worked well for Mount Holly before it was disbanded. She suggested that this new plan be reviewed by a local “task force” prior to being brought back for another vote.

The Reporter asked if Environmental Resolutions Inc [ERI] had consulted with the State Office of Historic Preservation about the unusual variant zones put forward by the plan. ERI said that it had not consulted with the State. The Reporter followed up that it had met with the State Office of Historic Preservation and gotten feed back that they had never seen a plan like the one created by ERI. It should be noted that the township lost its recognition as a “Certified Local Government” which is bestowed by the State. That designation gives Mount Holly opportunities to get state grants that can be applied to projects that would otherwise not have money.

Readers will recall that Commission Chair Thiessen took on the top operational roll of Director during Carty’s 9 month suspension. The combined “temporary” Director role along with the Chair duties caused delays on the operational side of the District. Last nights hiring is expected to streamline budgeting and administrative tasks greatly until permanent administrators can be hired next year.

UEZ Director Sean Kennedy stated that the grant would help fund “new siding, windows, trim and a centralized single door. Currently they have two doors, but use only one.”

The Reporter sought to obtain comment from owner Vince Masciandaro but he was not available. Looking for historic information about the Village Idiot on the web, it appears that the business has been in operation from 2013 or 2011, depending on which web page you believe. This general timeframe agrees with the personal experience of The Reporter. I have frequented the Village Idiot and can personally attest to its wide variety of quality brewed offerings and its popularity in the community.

You are hearing about data centers in the news. Their massive use of water, their noise, heat, and the way they cause energy bills to increase. But could they really be an issue in Mount Holly? Yes. Our town may not be a prime location, but there are parcels which could host such a facility.

That’s why council member Tara Astor decided to reach out to Assembly member Balvir Singh for a model ordinance that would prohibit data centers in Mount Holly.

"I reached out to Balvir after seeing the information he was sharing on social media about data centers, Flock and techno feudalism (we're both fans of Yannis Varoufakis!).
Balvir sent the ordinance template for a data center ban and council voted unanimously to support my motion compelling our solicitor to draft and present the ordinance to council.”

Astor added that “once the solicitor drafts and presents it to council, it will take two council meetings (introduction and adoption) and then go to the zoning/planning board which can adopt it. Basically it updates the municipal master plan, prohibiting data centers.”

If you missed the Hissy Hut on you last trip down Mill Street, it is unlikely that it will escape you eyes the next time you pass. Local artist Susan Crawford was commissioned by Main Street Mount Holly [ Main Street ] to paint a delightful mural at The Hut which is bright and captures the joy of owning a cat.

Main Street is responsible for a number of the murals in Mount Holly, like the one just completed next to the gazebo across from Vincent’s icecream. You may have noticed some of Susan Crawford’s other work in town which features the the buzzard “Scrappy” who urges all residents to clean up after their dogs.

The Hissy Hut mural is nearly finished and I am already coveting the idea of having the mural on a t-shirt. The Scrappy t-shirt has been getting snapped up by residents and I think the Hissy Hut could be another popular item for Main Street.

Artist Susan Crawford

Burlington County Irish Festival — September 19

On Saturday, September 19, the annual Burlington County Irish Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. at Mill Dam Park.

Organized by the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, the festival marks the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day and has become a popular local celebration of Irish culture and heritage. The festival will feature several Irish bands, bagpipers, Irish dancers, children’s activities, vendors, Irish cultural displays and much more. Admission is free, although donations are accepted, and festivities continue until 6 p.m.

This year’s festival is sponsored by Raising Cane’s. A shuttle bus will run between the township parking lot and Mill Dam Park throughout the event. So pack up the family and jig on over to Mill Dam Park for a grand day of Irish music, culture and fun. More information is available on the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Parade Committee Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/mounthollyparade/

Mount Holly Fall Fest & Howl-a-Ween Pet Pawrade — September 26

The following weekend, Main Street Mount Holly brings the second annual Mount Holly Fall Fest and Howl-a-Ween Paw Pawrade to downtown Mount Holly. See

howl-o-ween-pet-pawrade-fall-festival

The festivities run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. along High Street and Mill Race Village, with plenty of activities for both two-legged and four-legged visitors. The day will feature children’s activities, the popular pet parade, vendors, food trucks and plenty more throughout downtown.

Jailhouse Rocks — October 3

On Saturday, October 3, the jail will be rocking once again when Main Street Mount Holly presents its annual Jailhouse Rocks concert at the Historic Burlington County Prison. The concert begins at 6 p.m. and features Brown Sugar, a Rolling Stones tribute band. Tickets are just $15 and are available through Main Street Mount Holly.

JailHouse Rock

Witches Bazaar — October 17

Then, on Saturday, October 17, Mill Race Village brings spooky season into full swing with the Witches Bazaar. Running from 4 to 10 p.m., the event will feature vendors, a costume contest, live music and more as Mill Race Village transforms for an evening of Halloween fun.

Additional information is available through the Witches Bazaar Facebook page.

witches-bazaar

This fall is shaping up to be a great one here in Mount Holly, and these events are just a taste of what is in store. Whether you want to celebrate Irish culture, bring the kids downtown for Fall Fest, rock out at the old jail or embrace the spooky season at the Witches Bazaar, there will be plenty of opportunities to get out of the house, enjoy the cooler weather and spend some time with friends and neighbors. So mark your calendars, bring the family and enjoy fall right here in Mount Holly.

The Facebook page called “Mount Holly News”, which has 2,800 followers, is published by Jason R. Carty.

Mr. Carty does not reveal his administrator status and Facebook does not require public transparency. The arduous path to discovering his ownership requires considerable sleuthing. The Reporter has testimony of people who have first-hand knowledge of Carty’s publishing control over Mount Holly News and from others who have made careful observation of his writing style and his post content which often mirror content he allows to be associated with his name. Its him.

WHY DOES IT MATTER ?

It matters because a publication with 2,800 followers can have significant influence over public debate, especially in a town with elections that turn out less than 5,000 votes on a good day. It matters because some content in the Mount Holly News is demonstrably false, such as a libelous charge Mount Holly News made against former Fire Commissioner Joseph Sams. And it matters because followers of Mount Holly News deserve the transparency of knowing who is trying to influence them.

LOCAL STRATEGIES

Besides owning a communication platform known as Mount Holly News, Mr. Carty owns a political consulting operation known as Local Strategies. The Election Law Enforcement Commission publishes payments made by campaigns to Local Strategies LLC in various elections. Carty is excellent at running political campaigns for his customers: setting design, content and timing of some startlingly effective mail pieces. The Mount Holly Reporter does not indicate that the “negative” mailer displayed here is true. But it is an example of Carty’s work. This is another reason why people should be concerned about Carty’s anonymity at Mount Holly News.

THE LATEST CAMPAIGN

Mount Holly News published a 9/8/26 post which pointedly left Mount Holly Fire Department out of any credit for its response to an apartment fire on High Street. Residents need to know that MHFD did arrive on the scene essentially simultaneously with other local departments and was part of the team providing services in that fire. The Reporter has more to say below about MHFD’s efforts to rebuild its forces and response statistics.

When a publication regularly fails to provide any reporting of positive work by an organization, readers can safely conclude that the publication is engaged in a political campaign to drive negative perceptions.

THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The Mount Holly Reporter believes that people can best make up their minds about which arguments hold water when they have more information, not less. Our mission as a 501(c)4 non-profit is to shed light into the government and civic life of Mount Holly. To that end, we present below the full “Strategic Plan” for MHFD which was authored by Chief Tom Mason during 2024.

During 2024, the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety [ see https://www.nj.gov/dca/dfs/ ]was singularly focused on the struggling Mount Holly Fire District which had inadequate response to fire calls. Those bad response statistics followed decades of decline and aligned with national trends for volunteer departments as modern economies saw people take work far from their homes. There were also circumstances specific to Mount Holly which hurt volunteer census as some members quit rather than accept fire company mergers into a single force at the Relief Fire House.

Regardless of the causes, the State of New Jersey was giving the MHFD an ultimatum: produce an acceptable plan of improvement or face a shut-down and requirements to provide fire services via financial agreements with other departments. And so, with a tight deadline, the “Strategic Plan 2024 – 2029” was presented to the State.

The Division of Fire Safety found that plan acceptable and Mount Holly Fire District was given a reprieve. The Fire District was faced with implementing the plan to improve or be forced into relationships with nearby fire districts at a significant cost.

DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

Just as the Five Year Plan emerged, the Fire District was in the process of selecting a new Director of Fire Services, which turned out to be Jason R. Carty during March of 2025. And so it was Carty who would interpret the critical language found on page 4 of the plan [see below].

“Develop incentive duty crew programs for tenured and new membership.”

The plan was designed with a duty crew program that offered limited paid shifts as an “incentive” to volunteers who would also have to provide unpaid hours to the district. But Director Carty did not see it that way and instead implemented a Duty Crew program with no requirement to work volunteer hours.

So without the volunteer hours requirement, responses to calls for service would stretch only as far there was money to provide paid shifts. While that attracted professional firefighters from distant towns and improved response at the Fire District, it was only a partial solution and came at the expense of volunteer hours which could be gathered if the program were aimed at local people.

With the departure of Carty, the program has been redesigned to align with the original vision of required volunteer hours. This caused the professional firefighters from remote communities to depart. But the District has attracted 18 new members, which is more than was lost when the new program was implemented. The program is not yet fully developed and new staff must be trained, but it is likely that significant improvement will arrive in the coming months. The Reporter will inquire whether the new program is paying off and whether the State of New Jersey is satisfied with the progress. Stay tuned.

At the August 10, 2026 meeting of Town Council, Mayor Banks was reminded of his own words in early 2024 regarding speeding: “there’s a lot of speeding all throughout town” and “literally someone nearly ran me over walking into the building today”.

In the public comment section of the meeting, The Reporter said that a draft ordinance had been transmitted to Council to reduce the speed limit on the municipally owned section of Garden Street from 30 MPH to 25 MPH. The township solicitor stated that an ordinance cannot be passed without an engineering study that demonstrates a speed reduction is justified.

After the meeting, Mayor Banks told The Reporter that he believed a speed reduction on just the municipal part of Garden Street “did not make sense” and would invite legal challenges. Banks suggested that a more sensible approach was to convince the County that the entire length of Rancocas Road from the Bypass to High Street should be a 25 MPH zone.

Since Bank’s suggestion would require that the County conduct its own engineering traffic study along the noted section of Rancocas Road, The Reporter wrote to County Commissioner Pullion suggesting that a study be conducted. Pullion responded that the County was willing to consider it, but could not launch a study on the basis of a single resident request. Pullion suggested that the Mayor or an administrator with the town contact the County’s engineer and set up a meeting to discuss it.

Mr. Mayor, the ball is back in your court. If you don’t believe the township should just attempt to reduce the speed limit on its own road and think it is more sensible to convince the County to undertake that effort on Rancocas Road, please reach out to the County Engineer.

Readers will recall that my first experience with the Virtua ER “overnight shift” during August 2026 ended with me leaving the ER after 3.5 hours when it became obvious that a doctor would not evaluate me anytime before sunrise.

My second experience in August 2026 was to accompany my wife during her visit which ended after 8 hours with a successful treatment of an infected tooth. Thank you Virtua.

During both visits I was struck by the number of people who were waiting hours for treatment in chairs and on gurneys in the hallway or in rooms. Some of whom were speaking up loudly about not getting service. If I was able to obtain official word from Virtua on challenges and staffing strategy for the ER overnight shift, perhaps the long waits would make sense. But my emails and certified mail to the people in charge have gone unanswered, and it seems that Virtua and its third party vendor, “Team Health”, are not about to provide any information about the ER.

So I will rely on the words of 2 doctors and a nurse who served there when I say that the Virtua ER appears to schedule only 1 doctor for the overnight shift. I admit my lack of professional hospital administrator skill but it appears that physician staffing is a main culprit in the long waits.

I specifically put this question to the President of Virtua, John Kirby. Mr. Kirby has not yet answered. I also put the staffing question to Mr. Guilford and Dr. Owen of Team Health, and await answers from them.

If you go to the following web page you will find that Virtua identifies “Team Health” as a “Hospital Based Physician Group” in the emergency department. See https://www.virtua.org/Patients-and-Visitors/Health-Insurance/Hospital-Based-Physician-Groups

The arrival of third party physician groups running emergency departments is a national trend. According to “kffhealthnews”, these medical staffing companies are often owned by private equity investors and as a matter of policy employ fewer doctors in the ERs they staff as a cost-saving initiative to increase earnings.

See https://kffhealthnews.org/health-care-costs/doctors-are-disappearing-from-emergency-rooms-as-hospitals-look-to-cut-costs/

For the second time in less than a year, a Superior Court judge in Burlington County has ruled that the hiring of Jason R. Carty as Fire Director was illegal. Consequently his employment has again been ruled “void” from its start. As a result, the paid leave which Mr. Carty has collected since November of 2025 has finally reached its end.

Attorney Mike Rothmel gave the following statement

“In my opinion, Nicole Saucier purposely delayed the provision of an agenda so that it coincided with Commissioner Rosemarie Logue’s vacation because Saucier did not want Logue attending the meeting. This is supported at page 3 of Judge Cook’s statement of reason where he notes that adequate notice requires that an agenda, to the extent known, be included in the meeting notice at least 48 hours before the meeting. Cook found that agenda was known on September 15th but not provided until September 18th, only 16.5 hours before the meeting.”

Also reached for comment, Commissioner candidate Gary Brotz said that “Today’s court ruling, which has removed Jason Carty as Director for a second time, follows a previous ruling that nullified June Gaskill’s unethical vote to hire Carty in 2025. This kind of malfeasance is exactly why Rosemarie Logue and I have entered the race for Fire Commissioner.”

RECENT FIRE DEPARTMENT HISTORY

Mr. Carty acquired the Director of Fire Services job as the Fire District struggled to maintain its 275 year status as a volunteer organization. In March of 2025 when Carty was first hired, the number of volunteers was at a low point with no relief in sight.

The Reporter investigated reasons for the decline in firefighter census. One fire fighter said his decision to severely cut back participation was due to the likelihood of getting publicly criticized. “I’ll do work, but nothing extra. Because, WHY? If I am not in favor, I will just get trashed on Facebook”.

Mr. Carty published Fire District statistics on his Facebook page called “Mount Holly News”, regarding the District’s inability to answer even 15% of fire calls. Those stats suggested that a personnel crisis was at hand and that change was needed.

As Director, Carty began to nudge the District away from its all volunteer roots and towards a paid “duty crew”. His paid shift model did not require volunteer hours and relied heavily on professional firefighter colleagues from distant communities like Ewing, where Carty served as a professional fire fighter since 2018.

The Reporter acquired text threads which showed an out-of-town duty crew member stating that he would only work paid shifts. Supporters of the old duty crew model cited improved response statistics, but those same people avoided an obvious tilt toward a full-time paid professional fire department. Estimates for a paid fire department depend on how it is staffed, but could cost upwards of $2,500,000 which works out to about $700 annually to an average Mount Holly household.

A full time professional fire department seems to be less likely now that Carty’s tenure is receding into the past. The Fire District has been shoring up its status as a volunteer fire department once again. Over the last months, Fire Chief Tom Mason has instituted a new duty crew program with requires that volunteer hours be worked. This has resulted in the recruitment of 15 new members.