Change of government unlikely anytime soon Hazlet officials share thoughts on direct election of mayor BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer "Directly electing the mayor has its pros and cons, just like any other form of government out there has its good and bad sides." - Michael Sachs Committeeman HAZLET - In the township's form of government, voters elect residents to serve on the Township Committee, which eventually chooses one person to be the mayor and another to be the deputy mayor. However, residents in other towns in the area, such as Keyport, Aberdeen and Matawan, elect their mayors directly, and there's at least one resident who thinks that system deserves a look in Hazlet. "We're one of the few towns in the Bayshore area that still has the old charter in effect and I think we should get with the times," Fran Donnelly said at the Jan. 9 committee meeting. "I think the people of Hazlet should be allowed to choose the mayor directly and not have to rely on the committee to do it." Deputy Clerk Mary Lynch, who has worked in Hazlet for over five years, said she has never heard of anyone proposing to change the charter of the township - maybe because nobody has taken enough initiative, or maybe because it's such a tedious process. A five-person charter study commission must be started, an ordinance must be initiated and then an item must be placed on the ballot for residents to vote on, according to Lynch. Former Mayor and current Committeeman Michael Sachs said he has looked into changing the charter in the past, but that "it's a long process and not something I see happening." "Directly electing the mayor has its pros and cons, just like any other form of government out there has its good and bad sides," Sachs said. "It would take a lot of work by some very dedicated people to get that idea off the ground, and even then, it'd still be very tough to pull off." Mayor James DiNardo agrees with Sachs that a change to the current charter won't be happening anytime soon. Donnelly, who said she has no problem with DiNardo being the mayor, said she just wants to see an improvement to the current way of doing things in town. "It's like the committee has control of everything," Donnelly said. "We live in a democracy and so it makes sense for the people to vote for whom they want to run our town. It's about time we get current with the way that so many other towns do things with their local governments."