Newly sworn

During an evening when five recently elected officials were sworn-in, there were also cautionary words for Middlesex Borough residents about upcoming taxation and the ongoing need for community volunteers.

The Board of Education and Borough Council held their respective reorganization meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 6. The board swore-in new members Jeremiah Carnes, Justine Decker and Martin Quinn. New councilwomen Jennifer Clock and Shannon Quinn took the oath of office when municipal government held its first meeting of 2026 a short time later.

At the board reorg, Danielle Parenti was unanimously elected president for the coming year. Sharon Schueler won a close 5-4 vote for vice president, defeating Thomas Thornton. Thornton received votes from himself and the three newly sworn board members.

Michael Conahan was unanimously elected council president without opposition.

The board reorg included virtually no other business than the swearings-in and leadership elections. The council meeting saw Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk give the annual mayor’s address, and comments from Clock, Quinn and Councilman Joseph DeScenza.

Mikołajczyk noted various successes from 2025 including the opening of the borough library’s Local History Room, state recognition for the Environmental Commission, upgraded zoning enforcement and completion of the Route 28 streetscape and Victor Crowell Park master plan.

But the mayor advised that it will be “impossible” to repeat last year’s 2.5% municipal tax increase in 2026 due to a combination of factors. They include a 36% increase in municipal worker health insurance, a state inflation rate of 3.5%, and continued lack of a state aid increase.

“Our efforts are always to be conservative as possible but with the cuts we made last year,” the mayor said, “it is unrealistic to get there again this year without a reduction in services.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ ongoing Green Brook Flood Risk Management Project has removed about 90 homes from the tax rolls with more to come, Mikolajczyk said.

Volunteerism was another topic mentioned by the mayor, noting that it is crucial to the operation of the Middlesex Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, rescue squad and other committees and commissions.

Mikolajcyzk said volunteerism “is at a low the past few years…challenging their ability to be effective.” Free borough services, he added, “will no longer to be sustained without an influx of new members.”

“We are reaching a critical point,” Mikolajczyk said, “and low volunteerism will result in us paying for things we now take for granted that are free.”

After the meeting, MIkolajczyk explained the council’s current thinking on another matter – the borough administrator’s position. Since former Business Administrator Michael LaPlace submitted his resignation last September, Police Chief Matt Geist has served as interim admin and Department of Public Works Superintendent Len Vidal as deputy admin.

“We’re going to let it ride for a little while,” Mikolajczyk said, meaning that Geist and Vidal would continue their dual roles, at least for the foreseeable future.

Geist and Vidal are doing well handling issues such as the flood management project, the mayor said. Officials have been concerned about the feds’ intent to close down Route 28 at the former site of the Mountain View Diner during construction of a flood gate.

If that occurs, it is likely still a few years away. But Geist has been pressing to not have the roadway shut completely, Mikolajczyk said. The final decision on the matter will be made by the state Department of Transportation.

After they took the oath of office, both Clock and Quinn spoke briefly.

Clock, who is the niece of Councilman Kevin Dotey, is the mother of five children. She recalled her family battling through various hardships and once promising herself she would never get into politics.

That changed with a college class, she said, when a professor imparted that “policies don’t live on paper,” but affect people’s lives.

Leadership, Clock added, is about “listening, learning and doing the work.”

Quinn, the wife of school board member Martin Quinn, noted “democracy works best when people step up and participate.”

She recalled that George Washington once said the power of the U.S. Constitution “is in the people.”

DeScenza echoed the mayor’s call for community volunteers, adding that “without them we’re in deep do-do.”

He then offered to mentor Clock and Quinn, if needed, and poked fun at the school board. Shannon Quinn recently completed a three-year board term.

The board has sometimes provided taxpayer-funded takeout meals prior to meetings for its members and administrative team. There were no takeout meals evident prior to Tuesday’s reorg. The council does not get takeout prior to its sessions.

“Remember Shannon,” DeScenza said, “here there’s no free dinner.”

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