Hall winds up term on committee BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - Thomas Hall considers himself to be the elder statesman on the Township Committee as he has served on the committee for the past four years. Hall sat in front of residents in the main meeting room of town hall for the last time as a committeeman on Dec. 17, where he has seen a lot since coming in as a replacement in January 2004 for Rick Brodsky. Hall did not seek reelection in 2007 and he took the occasion of his final committee member comments to address the residents in attendance. "As I leave this committee, it has been four years and it has been a privilege and an honor to serve the township of Middletown," Hall said. "I see a lot of faces in here that are very familiar as they have been coming month after month for the past four years." Hall said that he is looking forward to spending more time with his grandson now that he will have more time on his hands. When Brodsky resigned from the committee, Hall was chosen from a pool of 48 people and was among three finalists from which he ultimately was selected to serve on the committee for a one-year term. He was elected the following year, along with current mayor Gerard Scharfenberger, to a three-year term that expires Jan.1. Hall was appointed mayor at the start of his three-year term in 2005 and was chosen as mayor the following year as well. "I stand here two times as mayor and I don't think most people realize how much time we put in up here," Hall said. Originally from Long Island, Hall has lived in Middletown since 1989. He is credited with creating the Great Race in 1990 to raise funds for education programs and has served as a Middletown Education Foundation board member, as well as a coach and board member for the Lincroft Little League. In his comments, Committeeman Thomas Wilkens, who sits next to Hall, spoke about what he has learned from Hall. "Tom has been so much help to me sitting next to him over the past year," Wilkens said. "He has so much knowledge of Middletown and has been mayor twice. There may be no better person to sit next to on a committee." On Jan. 5 Sean Byrnes, a Democrat who beat out Democrat Janet Moscuzza and Republican Tristan Nelsen to win the election for the committee seat, along with Scharfenberger, will be sworn into office and Hall wanted to give him some advice on what it takes to be on the Township Committee. Byrnes is an attorney with offices in Red Bank. He entered politics following a career in the Coast Guard. "I sincerely hope he devotes the amount of time that is really required for this position," Hall said. "Middletown is a huge municipality. To do this job right requires a lot of time."