Reorg 2025

Two new councilmen will be sworn-in at the annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 7,  but otherwise, there won’t be much change in Middlesex Borough municipal government during 2025.

The reorg will be held at 7 p.m. at the Ronald S. Dobies municipal building on Mountain Avenue.

The agenda for the session, which is posted on the borough website, shows that virtually all professional service firms hired in 2024 will be brought back.

New councilmen Kenneth Griggs, Jr. and Joe DeScenza (left to right in lead photo) will be sworn-in to their respective first terms on the govering body. Griggs and DeScenza ran as uncontested Republicans in the 2024 primary and general election. The two new councilmen succeed Doug Rex and Martin Quinn, who did not seek re-election.

Republicans continue to hold all six council seats as well as the mayoralty. The GOP has held all seven elected seats on the governing body since 2020.

The list of firms that will be appointed to legal and other advisory positions for 2025 contains plenty of familiar names.

Chris Corsini of Somerville-based Savo, Schalk, Corsini, Warner, Gillespie, O’Grodnick & Fisher returns as borough attorney. Corsini has held that post since 2019. In it, he serves as lead legal counsel to the mayor and council.

The Savo, Schalk firm will also be re-appointed redevelopment attorney and to handle tax appeals.

Returning as well are: Colliers Engineering & Design as borough engineer; Najarian Associates as environmental engineer; Dilworth Paxson LLP as bond attorney; and Apruzzese, McDermott, Mastro & Murphy as labor attorney.

Ricciplanning, a longtime consultant on land use, will again serve as borough planner in 2025. King, Moench & Collins is eyed for a reappointment as environmental attorney.

The following are some of the appointments planned to municipal boards and committees by Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk alone, or with the council’s consent:

Recreation Committee: Laura Thomasey; Shade Tree Commission: Frank Ryan; Environmental Commission: Councilman Robert Dessino, Steve Embar, Gina Salgado, Andrea Murphy (alternate); Library Board: Beverly Weber, Emily DeScenza; Swim Pool Commission: Kim Mazze.

Board of Health: Melissa Fedosh, Rich Gianchiglia Sr., Kevin Nelson, Robert Sherr, Justine Decker (alternate); Joint Land Use Board: Frank Ryan, Councilman Robert Dessino, Rich Gianchiglia (alternate), Martin Quinn, Robert Sherr; Parks Improvement Committee: Amy Thornton, Rich Hendrzak, Ann Marie Kleiber, Spencer Durkin (alternate), Doug Rex (alternate).

While the trend is for professional firms to be renewed, the borough is making a change in its public health services. During the fall, a contract with the Somerset County Health Department was approved, effective Jan. 1. For years, the Middlesex County Health Department had held that contract. 

The change was made due to dissatisfaction with the service provided by the Middkesex County department, according to Quinn, who served as council liaison to the Board of Health (BOH) for the past two years.

Quinn said that when he first joined the health board, not one conditional violation notice had been written for any establishment in the borough for two years.

The BOH contacted Middlesex County. Les Jones, director of the Middlesex County Office of Health Services, attended two meetings of the borough health board in 2023 to answer concerns. In recent comments to Inside – Middlesex, Quinn said that Jones “yessed us to death.”

Jones claimed there would be better reports submitted to the borough board and more write-ups of violations, but “they didn’t materialize,” according to Quinn.

Local officials determined that Middlesex Borough had the option of contracting instead with the Somerset County Health Department because of its geographic location adjacent to Bound Brook.

Middlesex officials obtained copies of the reporting the Somerset County department was giving to Bound Brook on health issues. It was more extensive than what the Middlesex County department was providing to the borough, Quinn said.

“They just weren’t fulfilling it,” Quinn said of Middlesex County’s handling of its previous contract with the borough. “Regularly no attendance at our meetings, not informing us of upcoming county events, no reports on pretty much anything or incomplete reports.”

The Middlesex Borough Board of Health tabled or did not accept nearly six months of Middlesex County-submitted reports last year, according to Quinn. “Towards the end, (borough BOH members) were accepting incomplete reports because of the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

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