Absent

Middlesex Borough Councilman Jeremiah Carnes may be on the verge of vacating a seat on the governing body to which he was elected only a year ago.

Carnes did not participate in a phone-in council meeting held on Friday afternoon, Dec. 8. The special session lasted a few minutes as the only order of business was passing a resolution to hold a bond sale.

It was the third consecutive council meeting missed by Carnes. He was also absent from regularly scheduled meetings on Tuesdays, Oct. 24 and Nov. 21.

At that Nov. 21 meeting, Borough Attorney Chris Corsini said he believed that under state law, an elected municipal official would relinquish their term upon four consecutive meeting absences. Corsini acknowledged that he needed to research the law’s specifics.

It appears the law’s parameters are slightly different.

Passaic City Councilman Salim Patel vacated his council seat in spring 2022 due to excessive meeting absences. Passaic officials said Patel vacated his term after missing all meetings over an eight-week period, the state law threshold, according to a report in NorthJersey.com.

The Middlesex Borough Council next meets on Tuesday, Dec. 19. That would be eight weeks to the day from Carnes’ first meeting absence on Oct. 24.

Elected municipal officials are permitted excused absences for medical and other reasons, but they are typically cleared in advance. Middlesex officials appeared to not be certain whether Carnes would participate in the Dec. 8 virtual session.

Carnes did not answer the roll call at the start of the meeting. Both Carnes and Councilman Martin Quinn were absent. After the four attending council members voted on the bond sale resolution, Borough Clerk Linda Chismar asked again if either Carnes or Quinn had joined the meeting call. There was no reply to her question.

Carnes’ string of meeting absences comes as Mayor John Madden and council colleagues await an explanation for a series of five recent resignations from the Cultural & Heritage Committee, for which Carnes is the council liaison.

Three resignations were accepted by the council on Oct. 24 and two more on Nov. 21. Carnes’ council colleagues said the exiting committee members had given no reasons for their departures. They added that as C&H liaison, Carnes would be the appropriate person to comment on the matter.

One of the resignations was submitted by former Republican Chairman Michael Hompesch. At the Nov. 21 meeting, Hompesch said he resigned because he did not have time to continue serving on the committee.

Reached by Inside – Middlesex after the Nov. 21 meeting, Carnes claimed Hompesch resigned due to differences the two had over Republican Party matters.

Carnes’ string of absences began six weeks after a Sept. 12 council meeting that listed an executive session item titled “Personnel – Council/Staff.” In subsequent meetings, officials have not commented on the cryptically named item or mentioned details.

Carnes was elected to his first three-year council term in 2019. He was elected to his second term during the 2022 general election and sworn-in during this past January’s reorganization meeting.

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