Al Gubitosi and Shana Greenblatt
By PETE WALTON
Councilman Al Gubitosi has been elected mayor of Bradley Beach.
His running mate, Shana Greenblatt, was chosen to fill a one-year unexpired term on the Borough Council.
Residents also voted in favor of a commission to study changing the form of government in the borough.
According to early results released by Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon, Gubitosi defeated Land Use Board Vice Chairman William Psiuk in the race to succeed Larry Fox as mayor. Fox decided not to run for another term, saying he wanted the time to care for a relative who has been fighting an illness.
Gubitosi received 1265 votes while Psiuk garnered 908, according to the unofficial returns.
Shana Greenblatt defeated former Board of Education member Donald Warnet 1192 to 893 for the council seat.
The charter study question won by a vote of 1167 to 792, the clerk said as she released the early results.
Gubitosi lost to Fox by a vote of 1170 to 1028 in the 2020 election for mayor.
Fox backed Psiuk and Warnet in this year’s election. He opposed the charter study proposal.
Hanlon said the unofficial results of the nonpartisan election included votes cast at early voting machines in 10 locations around the county. Mail-in ballots received by Election Day were also tallied. Still being counted were ballots placed in drop boxes on Election Day, late mail-in ballots, and provisional votes.
Late in the campaign, Gubitosi and Greenblatt received the endorsement of Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11th), whose district includes Bradley Beach.
“The one big problem in the town is the unfortunate divisiveness in government,” Gopal said in an online post. “I have 19 towns in my district and one continues to have a lot of government dysfunction. That is Bradley Beach.”
“The two candidates running for mayor are running very different races,” Gopal said in the post. “One candidate is focused on very divisive and negative attacks on anyone and everyone he can — attacking me, attacking borough professionals and vendors, and anyone he can. That disappoints me because in my encounters with him he was always very kind and decent. I don’t know if he has campaign consultants sending out all this negative literature or if it’s him. Either way, it’s his campaign and the buck stops with him.”
“The second candidate, the one I am proud to support, Al Gubitosi, will help unify the town and end the infighting,” Gopal said. “It is evident in the campaign he is running. Every day this campaign for mayor goes on, I am more convinced that Al is the right person to help unify this town.”
The election for a one-year unexpired seat on the governing body was made necessary by the resignation of Meredith DeMarco, who Fox appointed as interim borough administrator over the objections of the council.
The council chose Kristen Mahoney to take DeMarco’s place. Mahoney did not seek another term.
Gubitosi was elected to the council in 2019 and was reelected three years later. Greenblatt co-founded the Bradley Youth and Community Club. She was a member of the 2019 municipal strategic plan study group and the Civic Engagement Task Force.
Once Gubitosi and Greenblatt are sworn in to their new offices in January, the council will choose someone to fill Gubitosi’s council seat.
Under state law, members of the charter commission are elected at the same time the question is posed. The top five vote getters would serve if the commission question is approved.
According to the early returns, Tracie Davidson led the voting for the commission with 934 votes, followed by Refet Kaplan with 834, Linda Maslanka-Duffy 817, Thomas J. Coan 760 and Donald Greenberg 717. Arianna Bocco received 699 votes, Terence Wright 638 and Deborah Brunell 595.
Bradley Beach started operating under the state’s Small Municipality Plan in 1992 after a previous charter study commission recommended it. The so-called strong mayor form of government is only available to municipalities with a population which is less than 12,000.
Under the present system, a mayor is elected to a four-year term and four council members are chosen to serve concurrent three-year terms.
