Fire District Run-Off Election In Toms River: When, Where To Vote

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Seven months after the annual fire election in Toms River, voters will be going to the polls on Saturday for a special runoff election in Toms River Fire District 1.

The runoff pits Anthony Cirz against Michael Hopson and was ordered following a legal battle over the outcome of the election for fire commissioner.

There were two District 1 commissioner seats up for election in February, and longtime commissioner Richard Tutela won one with 690 votes.

Cirz and Hopson received 615 votes each for the second seat, after a state appellate court panel in July disallowed a write-in vote that had been cast for Cirz by a voter who apparently did not see Cirz's name on the ballot as a candidate. The ruling said a voter cannot cast a write-in ballot for a candidate whose name is on the ballot.

The election is a battle for control of Fire District 1, where Brian Kubiel is the administrator. Tutela and Commissioner Leonard Minkler are aligned with Kubiel; commissioner Daniel Roman is part of a group that wants to see Kubiel ousted when his contract ends. The fifth commissioner is Robert Krohn.

The Ocean County Board of Elections is overseeing the election after the fight within the fire district over the results of the February election. That included a lengthy, hostile meeting on March 4, where Cirz, who had been sworn in privately by Krohn, the commissioners' clerk, tried to take the seat on the board. It also included threats warning of prosecution from the fire district's attorney who implied there was election fraud. That attorney, Melanie Appleby, resigned shortly after the meeting; she was challenged during the by members of the audience who pointed out state election reports showed she had made donations to the campaign of Tutela and Hopson during the fire election.

Here are the election details:

When: Saturday, Sept. 20

Polling hours: 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

How to vote: Vote-by-mail ballots can be picked up until 3 p.m. Friday at the Ocean County Clerk's Office on Washington Street. Vote-by-mail ballots must be deposited by 9 p.m. Saturday in one of five dropboxes available for this election:

Ocean County Parking Garage, 3rd Floor, Madison Avenue, Toms River; Toms River Library, 101 Washington St.; Ocean County Courthouse, 118 Washington St.; PIC Inc. of Ocean County, 1959 Route 9, Toms River; or the Lavallette Library (Upper Shores), 112 Jersey City Ave., Lavallette.

In-person voting on Saturday will be at three firehouses: East Dover Fire Company, 629 Fischer Blvd.; Ocean Beach Fire Company, 40 Kittiwake Ave., Lavallette; and Toms River Fire Company 2, 45 West Water St.

According to the official notice of the election, voters should cast their ballots at the following fire houses based on their election districts during primaries and the general election:

Registered voters in Toms River election districts 8 and 26 vote at Ocean Beach Fire Company in Lavallette.

Registered voters in Toms River election districts 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 28, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, 41, 42 53 and 57 vote at East Dover Fire Company.

Registered voters in Toms River election districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, 27, 34, 36, 37, 40, 54 60 and 63 vote at Toms River Fire Company 2 with the following exceptions:

Voters in districts 14, 37 and 63 who live on the following streets do not vote in Fire District 1 and are not eligible to vote in Saturday's run-off election:

Coulter Street, Leawood Avenue, Cayuga Court, Shoshone Court, Navajo Court, Cheyenne Court, Ridgeway Road, Branch Drive, Pueblo Court, Arapaho Court, Smokerise Lane and Iroquois Court, Albert Avenue, Toms River Walk, Janet Road, Parkway Drive, Marlane Road, Marbil Avenue, Glenwood Road (from 1130 Glenwood north), Lakewood Road (from 1127 Lakewood north) and Whitesville Road (in districts 14, 37 and 63).

Don't know which district you vote in? You can look it up on the state Division of Elections polling place search.

About the candidates:

Hopson comes from a family of firefighters but has no firefighting experience. He is union representative for the United Steel Workers and chief steward of negotiations, contracts and benefits. He was a safety inspector for the Department of Defense and had worked with the Family Self-Sufficiency program at Fort Dix. He works for the Ocean County Utilities Authority and is on its OSHA board.

Cirz has been a firefighter for 33 years, including 15 years as a fire officer and 6 years as fire chief of Toms River Fire Company 2, and comes from a family of firefighters. He is the founding chief of the Technical Team in Toms River District 1. Cirz is a Toms River High School North graduate and is a building code official in Berkeley and Seaside Heights.