Council Member Brown Misses Another Meeting

Request For Absence Policy Gets No Response

Council member Lew Brown has missed 6 of the last 8 council meetings stretching back to last September. There has been no official statement regarding Mr. Brown’s status. But last night Mayor Bank’s announced that his son, Township Manager Josh Brown, was also absent from the meeting because “he is on leave taking care of personal matters”

The Mount Holly Reporter asked the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to define Mount Holly’s policy regarding council member absences and/or the ability of a member to carry out their duties. There was a prolonged silence until Solicitor Tom Coleman stated that Council is not required to answer resident questions.

Mr. Brown’s latest absence came at a crucial time when Mount Holly Council is required to pass a budget but finds itself deadlocked in debate about a 9.7% tax increase. [A story is coming on the budget] Deputy Mayor DiFolco debated with council member Burkus that council should pass the “first reading” of the budget resolution. Council Members Astor and Burkus argued that the budget needs cuts prior to passage. The disagreement resulted in Astor/Burkus voting to “table” the budget resolution while DiFolco and Banks voted “abstain” from tabling the budget. Mr. Brown generally votes with DiFolco and Banks.

Lew Brown was first elected to Mount Holly Council in 2012 and has been re-elected three times. His son, Josh Brown, was appointed to the position of Mount Holly Township Manager in 2017. There is no law precluding such a father-son pairing except that council member Brown should recuse himself from any vote on the employment of his son.

But despite Council refusing to speak on the issue of incapacity, there are laws describing when an elected official has become “incapable of serving”.

New Jersey Statutes Annotated 40A:16-3.

When office deemed vacant

The office of a mayor or a member of the governing body of a municipality shall be deemed vacant:

a. Upon its being so declared by virtue of a judicial determination;

b. Upon the death of the mayor or a member of a governing body;

c. Upon a determination of the other members of the governing body that the mayor or a member of a governing body no longer resides within the corporate limits of a municipality or ward from which he was elected;

d. Upon the refusal of the mayor or member of a governing body to qualify or serve;

e. Upon a judicial determination that the mayor or member of a governing body shall have become physically or mentally incapable of serving;

f. Upon the filing of a written resignation with the municipal clerk by the mayor or a member of the governing body, except a resignation filed following the filing of a recall petition;

g. Whenever the mayor, when required by law to attend meetings of the governing body, or a member of the governing body, fails to attend and participate in any meetings of the governing body for a period of 8 consecutive weeks without being excused from attendance by a majority of the members of the governing body, at the conclusion of such period; provided, however, that the governing body may refuse to excuse only with respect to those failure to attend and participate which are not due to legitimate illness; or,

h. Upon a determination that the office comes within the purview of R.S. 19:3-25.