Division Remains In Chatham Township Over Deputy Mayor Choice

CHATHAM, NJ - After it took several meetings to fill a vacancy on the Chatham Township Committee, the Township Committee chose a new mayor and deputy mayor on Thursday night.

As the process was to fill the Township Committee spot following the resignation of former Mayor Tracy Ness, Thursday night’s time for the Township Committee to also select a mayor and deputy mayor among themselves, was additionally divided.

In the end though, then-Deputy Mayor Stacey Ewald became mayor and Katherine “Kathy” Abbott the new deputy mayor.

Abbott was sworn to her Committee seat officially this past Tuesday and ceremonially on Thursday night as the township Democratic Committee's nominee. She was also endorsed by Ness after she decided not to run again, a fellow Democrat.

Abbott was one of three nominees picked from the Chatham Township Democratic Committee to take Ness’ seat, who had come to a meeting for its executive session on June 24, only to learn that the two Township Committee members Ashley Felice and Mark Hamilton - two attorneys who are both Republicans and new to the Committee as of 2021 - said case law was a reason the choice couldn’t be done in Executive Session, as it had been with the Township Committee in the past.

This delay resulted in a special meeting on July 8, with the three Committee Member nominees assessed publicly. At this special meeting, Ewald and Committee Member Celeste Fondaco picked Abbott; and Felice and Hamilton one of two others, Paul Payton. The third nominee was Chairman of the Democratic Committee of Chatham Township, Phil Ankel. Following the tie at the special meeting, the Democratic Committee selected Abbott to fill the vacancy.

Though unanimous among the committee for Ewald as mayor on Thursday, when it came time to nominate Abbott - once a Republican and now a Democrat - both Felice and Hamilton disagreed with the choice. Ewald, Fondaco and Abbott prevailed by all choosing Abbott to take the deputy mayor spot, with Felice and Hamilton casting a vote against her nomination.

Having served on the township’s Planning Board since January, Abbott will continue to serve on that role, along with Ewald, a spot that Ness held previously as mayor, Abbott said.

“I am really happy to be appointed to this position [Township Committee], I just want to serve the township,” Abbott told Patch on Friday during a phone interview.

Abbott had served on the Township Committee previously from 2012 through 2014.

“I’m really honored to be Deputy Mayor,” she added. “I know the job [having served before on the committee] and want to hit the ground running.”

“The issue I take is not only that Kathy Abbott is unelected but that after Chatham Township has given her a prior opportunity, our residents evaluated her performance and rejected her second and third attempt to take office,” Felice responded to Patch in an email request for comment Friday.

Felice referred to Abbott’s time in office, then attempts to run for office again in both 2014 and 2015.

“Now during her fourth campaign she has found a way to be an unelected temporary appointment,” Felice added. “Further promotion in a partisan vote by her fellow Democrats is just a political attempt to elevate her profile and influence the election.”

Though she said she was surprised by the votes against her on Thursday night, Abbott remains undeterred and said she would like to work with all of her Township Committee colleagues.

“I’m more collegial, I don’t enjoy opposition,” she said.

She never served in the mayor or deputy mayor spots while previously on the Township Committee, she said, but when she did serve, as part of the Open Public Meetings Act, the nomination portion of appointing candidates to vacant seats was always done in Executive Session first, she said, with appointees then introduced and sworn in publicly.

Abbott said she knew both Ewald and Fondaco from all of their years in the township, having met Ewald first at the Colony Pool Club and Fondaco, when the two had plots next to one another at the Community Garden, then all of them volunteering in different initiatives together.

She called Ewald and Fondaco “problem solvers.”

“I know them [Ewald and Fondaco] from doing good things,” Abbott said.

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Editor's Note: Article has been updated with a correction, with Abbott the only Deputy Mayor candidate nominated.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.