Reina, Bressi are winners in Jackson


JACKSON — On Election Day, Nov. 3, Michael Reina, who was appointed mayor of Jackson when the former mayor resigned, won the right to complete the unexpired term, and Kenneth Bressi won a Township Council seat that runs through 2012.

Reina could not be reached for comment on the morning of Nov. 4.

In a field of four candidates seeking to complete the mayor’s term that runs through June 30, 2010, Reina received 6,150 votes, Michael Kafton received 4,510 votes, Angelo Stallone received 1,779 votes and John Gaskill received 985 votes.

Kafton is the current president of the Jackson Township Council and will retain that position.

Stallone is a former member of the Township Council.

There were 13,444 votes cast in the mayor’s race, according to information provided by the municipality.

In May 2010 there will be an election for a full four-year mayor’s term. The winner of that election will become Jackson’s mayor on July 1. Jackson has a nonpartisan form of government and conducts municipal elections in May.

Due to a series of circumstances that occurred in local government this year, the special municipal election was held on Nov. 3.

Commenting after the election, Kafton said he will continue his fight “to protect our environment, work toward bringing in clean commercial ratables, making our roads safer and so much more.”

Stallone said, “I want to congratulate Mr. Reina on his win and I wish him well. I hope he follows through on supporting the police department because they are severely understaffed and need to acquire more personnel to keep the town safe.”

Gaskill congratulated Reina and said he was proud of his own showing.

“I am very proud of my showing, running as an independent and gathering 8 percent of the vote,” he said. “I hope he (Reina) does a good job, [but remember] May is just around the corner.”

Bressi was Reina’s running mate in the election and will take his place as a councilman and serve through 2012. Bressi defeated current councilman Howard Tilis, 6,810 votes to 4,932 votes.

Bressi said being elected was a proud moment for him.

“It means a lot to me that the public came out and enjoyed the freedom of voting and making their choice,” he said. “Now that the choice is made by the public, it’s up to me to prove they made the right choice and for those who didn’t vote for me, it’s up to me to prove that  I earn their respect to be a councilman.”

Tilis said he and Bressi ran clean campaigns.

“It was issue oriented and we agreed on a lot of things,” said Tilis. “I believe he will do a good job in the best interests of all of the residents of Jackson.”

On Election Day, residents voted to reduce Jackson’s open space tax assessment from 3 cents to 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The question passed by a count of 7,175 “yes” to 6,609 “no.”

The amount of money a property owner in Jackson pays into the open space fund each year is determined by the assessed value of his property and the open space tax rate.

With a home assessed at $350,000 and an open space tax rate of 3 cents per $100 of assessed value in place, that property owner currently pays $105 annually into Jackson’s open space trust fund.

With a home assessed at $350,000 and an open space tax rate of 2 cents per $100 of assessed value in place, that same property owner will pay $70 annually into Jackson’s open space trust fund, for an annual savings of $35.