PERTH AMBOY — Mayor Wilda Diaz hopes to extend her term of office by six months with an ordinance moving the city’s non-partisan municipal elections to the same date as the November general election but Miguel Morales is spearheading a recall effort that would cut her reign short.

City Council members unanimously introduced the ordinance, which will be the subject of a public hearing on Wednesday, March 24. The measure could be adopted by the governing body that same night.

Diaz said if the change is approved, municipal elections will be held in November starting in 2012.

The office of mayor and two council seats will be up that year and winners would take office Jan. 1, 2013, six months later than Diaz’s term will end under current circumstances.

Morales, a city employee who helped Diaz defeat former Mayor Joseph Vas in 2008, wants voters to remove her from office.

“Wilda Diaz has relinquished all her power to Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum, who is not a Perth Amboy resident,” Morales said. “She’s given all her appointing authority up to the business administrator and made her acting director of the police department.”

“The business administrator is running the town,” said Morales. “The mayor is not doing anything.”

Morales filed with the Perth Amboy City Clerk’s office a notice of intent, which would give organizers 160 days to collect signatures from about 6,000 registered voters on a petition.

If they are successful, the city would hold a special recall election to determine if Diaz should be removed frmo office and, if so, who will succeed her in the job.

State officials adopted a legislation two months ago that allows municipalities with nonpartisan forms of government an option of switching election day from the second Tuesday in May to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Diaz said the May election costs the city about $50,000, but critics say the measure will disguise local issues in the cacophony of political noise surrounding campaigns for president and other higher offices.

On the same day Morales delivered the recall notice to the City Clerk’s office, Feigenbaum transferred him from the police department’s traffic maintenance division to a detail collecting garbage.

Feigenbaum said Morales, a city employee for about eight years, was only assigned to the public works department’s sanitation operation temporarily because some workers are out sick.

Candidates Attend Forum – The five candidates for Rahway’s school board attended a forum sponsored by the Rahway NAACP on Monday, March 17 at Ebenezer AME Church. Pictured left to right are Peter Kowal, Edward Quinn, Deborah Bridges, Bernard Robson, and Ray Lopez. Elections are April 15.

PERTH AMBOY – Mayor Joseph Vas will face two challengers in his re-election bid this year.

Voters will choose between Vas, community activist Wilda Diaz and businessman Israel Varela in the May 13 non-partisan election.
Vas, 53, has been Perth Amboy’s mayor for the past 18 years. He said he’s committed to seeing certain plans become reality, including the I-Port 440 project, redevelopment of the old Celetrex property and completion of the High Street/Route 440 Connector Road Project. He also serves in the New Jersey Assembly since 2004.

Diaz, 44, said she decided to run because of the rising cost of the city’s community, court and public safety complex on New Brunswick Avenue and the need to have a full-time mayor who serves only the city. She recently resigned as an assistant vice president and branch manager for an Elizabeth bank to run for the mayor’s seat and has worked in banking for more than 20 years.

Varela, who ran for City Council four years ago, said he wants a change for Perth Amboy. “I will be focused on the people of Perth Amboy and what I can do for my community,” he said. Varela said he will support a two consecutive term limit for mayors and place a $20,000 cap on municipal campaign spending. He owns an auto body business in the city.

Voters will also be able to choose from five candidates running for two City Council seats.

Councilman David Szilagyi and Board of Education member Joel Pabon are running with Vas on the Perth Amboy First slate. Fernando Gonzalez, who works in real estate, and Kenneth Balut, a retired city police officer, are running on the United for Change slate with Diaz. Community activist Maria Garcia is running by herself with the slogan An Independent Voice for Perth Amboy.