Christopher Lang, Correspondent, @topherlang2 | Apr 5, 2018 | MonroeNow
A candidate for the Cranbury Township Committee is the front-runner to replace an elected official who resigned for personal reasons on Tuesday.
Michael Ferrante, a Democrat, is one of four candidates seeking one of the two open seats this November on the township committee.
Committeeman Daniel Cook announced his resignation at the last meeting because of his engagement to a woman who lives in Arizona and as a result plans to spend much of his time going forward out west.
Ferrante is the front-runner to fill the vacant seat because he is the only Democrat, aside from incumbent Jay Taylor, who has been officially accepted by the Democratic Party to seek a seat.
By law, the Middlesex County Democratic Committee nominates three individual to replace Cook’s seat since it was an affiliated with the party. The township committee will select one of those nominations and vote on that person to fill the open position. Since Democrats are the majority, they will get to pick the individual, which will likely get the nod to serve.
Given the circumstances, and the Democrats having control, Mayor Glen Johnson said it’s a safe bet that Ferrante will get the appointment to finish Cook’s term.
“It’s the first community I lived in where there weren’t a bunch of young people chomping at the bit to get the seat,” said Johnson, a Democrat. “So we’re going to have three names, whether those three names are people who are thrilled is a different question. Certainly since Mike Ferrante is our candidate for the fall and since we want to fill the vacancy with somebody really good and give him some experience, that’s the reason why we are going to end up naming Mike.”
The county committee has 15 days from Cook’s resignation to come up with three nominations. After that, the township committee has 30 days to act on one of those nominations.
At the latest, Ferrante or another individual, the appointed committee member would start serving by the end of May to finish Cook’s term which expires Dec. 31.
If Ferrante is selected to replace Cook, he would still have to get elected in November for a full term.
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