JACKSON – Residents have re-elected Michael Reina to another four-year term as Jackson’s mayor and elected Andrew Kern and Alex Sauickie III to their first four-year terms on the Township Council.
In Jackson’s nonpartisan form of government, candidates do not run under the banner of a political party.
In the race for mayor, Reina, who has served in office since 2008, defeated Tracie Yostpille, 12,621 to 6,905, according to unofficial results posted online by the Ocean County Clerk’s Office. The results will not be official until they are certified by the county.
In the race for two seats on the council, Kern, 10,389 votes, and Sauickie, 10,030 votes, were victorious, according to results posted by the county clerk. They outdistanced Brandon Rose, 5,756 votes, Paul Sarti, 5,729 votes, incumbent Councilman Scott Martin, 2,393 votes, and Denise Garner, 1,558 votes.
Reina, Kern and Sauickie ran as a team, as did Yostpille, Rose and Sarti.
In a social media post, Reina said, “I am truly humbled by the amount of support that came my way this past election. I am overwhelmed at the faith and trust the residents have bestowed upon me by the votes received in our victory. Once again, I have to say I am extremely honored to serve as your mayor for the next four years.
“Looking forward and past the personal attacks we had to endure this election, our message of moving the township forward is real. We will continue to prioritize our goal to maintain and increase public safety, bring in clean commercial ratables, revenue and jobs, to keep quality of life standards as high as they can be, and to continue to stabilize taxes,” Reina said.
“Jackson will continue to strive to be a role model, a destination for visitors to enjoy while maintaining its beauty and infrastructure throughout our community,” Reina said.
Sauickie said it feels good to know residents heard the message he, Kern and Reina were putting out to the community.
“We tried to stay on as positive of a message as we could. Coming out of the gate we talked about what the mayor had done over the last couple of years and reinforced that we wanted to move those things forward,” Sauickie said.
Sauickie said he, Kern and Reina were “particularly stressing” smart commercial ratables, fiscal responsibility and safety in the community.
“I am looking forward to getting started, the fact that you have to wait until January makes me a little antsy, but between now and then I expect to prepare myself to hit the ground running … and ultimately to start fulfilling a lot of the promises we made during the campaign.
“I want to make sure people start to see we were not just giving them lip service, we meant what we said and the actions we start taking from the beginning should support that,” Sauickie said.
Kern said he is excited to work on behalf of residents. He said he is looking forward to “truly making a difference by writing ordinances and resolutions, keeping the current government fiscally responsible, and helping Jackson, the people and the residents.”
