TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEMBER BROWNLEE RESIGNS

Township Committee Member Marlon Brownlee, who had already chosen not to run for re-election this year, abruptly resigned Tuesday night, saying his family had chosen to move out of Maplewood.

His last day will be Aug. 31.

"We have enjoyed living here in Maplewood for 25 wonderful years and raised two children who are graduates of our tremendous Columbia High School," he said in departing. He would not say where the move will take his family.

Brownlee, first elected to the TC in 2010, had chosen to serve out his second term and leave on Dec. 31, 2016. But he told a surprised Township Committee Tuesday that an opportunity away from Maplewood had come up and his departure would come earlier.

Township Attorney Roger Desiderio said since Brownlee is a Democrat, the Maplewood Democratic Committee would now have 15 days to submit three nominees to the Township Committee, which would then choose his replacement from among those three names. That person would serve until the end of Brownlee's term on Dec. 31, 2016.

Brownlee's departure comes in the middle of the campaign to replace him in which Democrat Frank McGehee is running against Republican Mike Summersgill. Desiderio said the Democratic Committee could choose to nominate McGehee to serve out Brownlee's term if it wished.

But another person could also be chosen.

The TC expects to vote on his replacement at its next meeting on Sept. 6.  

Brownlee is the first TC member to resign before the end of his term since former Mayor Ken Pettis did so in late 2008. He was replaced by Jerry Ryan.