Nutley appears to have a new mayor, though the composition of the Township Commission remains the same.
With results uncertified and with 100% of precincts reporting, the Essex County Clerk’s Office says Commissioner John V. Kelly III finished with the most votes in last night’s election — 3,120 — and thus, he will become the mayor when the new commission reorganizes and is re-sworn later this month.
The rest of the victorious incumbents finished, in order, Alphonse Petracco with 2,972 votes; current Mayor Joseph P. Scarpelli with 2,896 votes; Mauro Tucci with 2,854 votes; and Thomas J. Evans with 2,543 votes. On the outside was former Nutley Police Officer Maria Hamlin, who finished sixth, with 2,365 votes and Lorenzo Marchese Jr. finished a distant seventh with 1,276 votes. (The top 5 vote-getters win in Nutley.)
Meanwhile in Belleville, Tracey Williams beat Patricia Inaugurato in the First Ward by a 296 to a 185 margin. Williams will replace the-late Councilwoman Marie Strumolo Burke, who died earlier this year and had decided against running. Frank Velez III, meanwhile, won in the Second Ward, with 519 votes over Victor Mesce’s 388 and Gary Hinton’s 47; In the Third Ward, Vincent Cozzarelli, an incumbent, ran unopposed; and in Fourth Ward, Diana Guardabasco easily fended off a challenge from former Board of Education trustee Michael Sheldon by a 307 to 153 vote margin.
More to come.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.