By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
COLTS NECK – Members of the Colts Neck Township Committee have appointed Frank Rizzuto to fill an open seat on the governing body.
The vacancy on the five-man committee was created when Committeeman Michael Fitzgerald resigned in January in order to accept the position of county counsel in Monmouth County.
The local Republican Party submitted the names of three residents as candidates to replace Fitzgerald. The individuals were Michael Viola, who chairs the Wildlife Committee, Christopher Short, who serves on the Historic Preservation Commission, and Rizzuto.
Rizzuto is a captain with the Colts Neck Fire Police and is serving his second term as president of Colts Neck Fire Company No. 1. He serves on the Colts Neck Republican Municipal Committee and on the Colts Neck Historic Preservation Committee.
Township Committee members selected Rizzuto and on Jan. 25 he was sworn in to office by Mayor Russell Macnow. Rizzuto’s wife, Julie, and children, Isabella, Frankie and Vivien, joined him in the municipal building as he took the oath of office.
The appointment is for 2017; the seat previously held by Fitzgerald will be on the ballot this year.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank the mayor and the Township Committee,” Rizzuto said. “I would like to thank my wife, Julie, my three wonderful kids and Monmouth County Freeholder Director Lillian Burry (of Colts Neck) for all of her support. I can promise you that you are going to get a very hard working committeeman.”
The Republican Party “put forth three names to the Township Committee. Thank you for handling it in a very seamless way,” Burry said. “All three residents were exceptionally well qualified and I would like to congratulate Frank on his selection and also congratulate the others who came forward.”
As a member of the Township Committee, Rizzuto will be the liaison to the Shade Tree Commission, the Architectural Review Committee, the Colts Neck Friends of the Library, the Colts Neck municipal website, the Finance Committee and Student Government Day.
