Surprises at Holmdel Township Committee Reorganization Meeting

Note: Kin Gee, an Editor/Writer of Better Holmdel, is a Member and Chairman of the Holmdel Charter Study Commission.

Surprises at Holmdel Township Committee Reorganization Meeting

Jan. 6, 2022 – There is a saying that actions speak louder than words. If last night’s Holmdel Township Committee Reorganization Meeting is any indication, it looks like Rocco Impreveduto, the newly elected member, intends to be very loud.

Shortly after the November election results were made official, Impreveduto was quoted as saying "There's a lot of work we're gonna have to do to frankly build some teamwork within the Township Committee," to the Patch. "It's no secret there's a great deal of division there." The Patch article went on to quote Impreveduto as saying "I'd like the divisiveness to end, the vitriol and all those kinds of things that have happened over the past couple of years,"

Under Holmdel’s form of local government, the mayor is not directly elected by voters. Instead, the five members of the Township Committee decide which of its members will serve as Mayor and Deputy for the calendar year. At last night’s Holmdel Township Committee Reorganization Meeting, Greg Buontempo and Prakash Santhana were nominated to serve as Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. Even though there were no other nominations, Impreveduto voted “No” to Buontempo for Mayor and Santhana for Deputy Mayor. Attending his first official meeting, this appears to be a surprising move for someone that claims to want to build teamwork and end divisiveness. Committeeman DJ Luccarelli then followed suit.

In a second surprising move, Impreveduto asked to pull two items of the Consent Agenda for discussion and a separate vote. The two items were the awarding of professional contracts to two firms. The reason for the request? Impreveduto said that he was concerned with the “optics” since the two firms have made donations in support of public question #3 to establish a Charter Study Commission.

Before the November election, Impreveduto has been vocal against the public question to establish a Charter Study Commission. He and other detractors have tried to frame the public question for the Charter Study Commission as people trying to change the form of government because they can’t win the elections. However, it was the Township Committee that passed the ordinance to place the public question on last year’s ballot and all members of the Township Committee are winners of their respective election race. They also ignored the fact that there might be some things that Holmdel voters may want but are not possible under the current form of government - a good example is for voters to directly elect the mayor. Holmdel residents voted in favor of establishing the Charter Study Commission in the November election.

It is interesting to note that Impreveduto did not pull other contract awards but only the two previously mentioned. Among the rest of the firms that received contract awards are two firms that have donated to Impreveduto’s campaign committee. In voting “Yes” for the other contracts, he didn’t express any concerns about the “optics” for contracts awarded to those firms that have made campaign donations to him directly.

During the CILU Candidate Forum in October 2021, Impreveduto made it clear that he accepted donations from professionals and developers and he will continue to accept them as long as the donations are “within the rules”. There were no concerns expressed at all regarding optics.

Normally, Township Committee Reorganization Meetings are relatively routine: newly elected members are sworn into office, the Committee decides who would be Mayor for the year, and all the necessary Board, professional, and other appointments are made. Based on last night’s meeting, you may want to fasten your seat belt. It may portend a rough ride ahead despite claims to want to end divisiveness and to build teamwork.