WHAT DOES BROWNLEE'S DEPARTURE FROM THE TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEAN FOR ITS FUTURE?

The recent announcement of Township Committee Member Marlon Brownlee's decision not to run for re-election could be the key move that transforms the governing body for the forseeable future.

Without an incumbent, the upcoming primary election for the Democratic nominee will likely be a hard-fought contest. Brownlee, who will have served two terms when he leaves office next January,  will be the third straight incumbent to leave the board in the span of a year.

The first winds of change occurred this past November when, after incumbent Jerry Ryan lost in the primary and Kathy Leventhal chose not to run again, challengers Nancy Adams and Greg Lembrich joined the committee.

Lembrich's ascent was even more telling because he beat Ryan, the Democratic Central Committee candidate, in the primary. Much of that election, of course, rested on Lembrich's questioning of the post office project and Ryan's support.

Until Lembrich and Adams took office on New Year's Day, the Township Committee had remained unchanged since 2012 when India Larrier took her seat after winning in November 2011. She replaced Fred Profeta, who did not run for re-election that year.

Larrier and Mayor Vic Deluca are up for re-election next year, in 2017. It is unclear if Larrier will run again, or if she could win given her anti-gay marriage stance that was revealed just days before her last last re-election in 2014.

Deluca appears to remain a popular mayor, receiving the highest votes of any candidate in his last few elections. He is also at the beginning of his eighth straight year as mayor. 

Needing only three of the five TC members to support him each year, including himself, Deluca is likely to continue as mayor in 2017 barring some unforeseen occurrence. With Brownlee gone, three of the five committee members will be too inexperienced to likely get the votes.

But in 2017, when Deluca is up again for re-election, it will be interesting to see how much the opposition to the post office plan will affect his efforts. However, the project will likely be completed by mid-2017 and could be welcomed as a success if it is handled well and the public warms to the idea of a new, modern facility. 

That is a long way off and given opposition to it today, it is hard to predict.

Still, given Deluca's overall popularity on many other issues -- gay rights, community involvement, knowledge and experience in local government, and his standing at the state level -- he may be able to beat a challenge in 2017.

But either way, the Township governing body is already undergoing a sweeping change likely to continue for at least a few more years.