New Members of Farmingdale Council Announced

Following the of several members of the Farmingdale Borough Council earlier this summer, Gov. Chris Christie announced the five people appointed to fill the vacated seats.

All five of the new council members are Farmingdale residents with at least one having served the township on the board of education. The five new members are Michael John Burke, George Dyevoich Jr., Joseph E. Hultmark, Patricia A. Linszky and Michael J. Romano. 

In a resume provided by the governor's office Dyevoich lists his current occupation as Circulation Sales Manager for the Star Ledger. He is also the President of the Farmingdale Borough Board of Education and has been on the board since 2002. 

Dyevoich said he will have to resign from the school board but is excited about this new opportunity. "I'd like to be able to support my community as I did the educational community in town," he said. He added he would, "like to keep our town as good as it is and maybe better."

Linszky currently works for the Zodiac Air Cruisers Company in Wall as their Quality Systems Manager, a position she has held since March of 2007. Having lived in the town for 21 years Linszky said this will be her first time serving on a council or a board but is a member of the Farmingdale Historical Society along with the Mayor. 

She said prior to the recent resignations she had not considered running for office in the borough. "I like the town as a whole," she said. "I'm very hapy as a whole with the way things are run so there was no real reason for me to run." As she gets ready to sit at the dais, she said she is ready to serve. "I think I can be a benefit to the town," she added.

Mr. Burke is currently the President and Principal in Charge of M3 Architecture LLC. Having grown up in Farmingdale and moving back to the town in 1999 Burke said he was glad to be able to serve the town. "I wanted to raise my children in the same small town atmosphere that I enjoyed as a kid," he said. "It will be exciting and great to be working with all members of the new council who quickly stepped up when needed." 

At first Burke said he will take a "listen and learn" approach to serving on the council, but said he also would like to do things to make a difference in the town. "As a new council member, I, as most Farmingdale residents, have some thoughts about what I'd like to see addressed, such as pedestrian safety and shade tree planting," he said. 

Joseph Hultmark is currently employed as a Logistics Technician at CDI Corporation in Lakehurst and as a realtor with Gloria Nilson Realtors, which he has done for the past 30 years. He retired from Fort Monmouth in 2007 after working as a Supervisory Logistician for Army programs. 

Having served his country as a civilian Hultmark said he was glad to be able to serve Farmingdale. "I felt I wanted to do what I could for my town," he said. "I'm very proud to live here. Farmingdale needed my support and if I could do something to help with that I wanted to."

After serving with the City of Bayonne Department of Public Safety for 36 years, most recently as a Battalion Chief, Romano is retired. "I want to get back to the community that I live in now," he said. 

Romano said when the former council members resigned he knew he wanted to apply to fill their seats. "When you have five people vacate very important positions, not caring about the citizens of the borough, I wanted to put my hat in the ring," he said. "I'm here to help the people."

Even with the recent history of the board he said he was looking forward to serving. "The blackboard is erased," he said. "We're coming in with five new people, it's a new era."

According to the Department of Community Affairs the five new council members were chosen from a field of 12 applications that were submitted following the resignations. The new council members will be able to assume their duties once they have taken an oath of office. 

Dyevoich said he was told the new members would be informed sometime next week of when they will be sworn in to begin their new duties. The Farmingdale Borough Council meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month meaning unless a special meeting is called they would not meet again until Sept. 18.