William A. Carter III was sworn in tonight as a member of the Cherry Hill Township Council, filling the vacancy caused by the June 13 resignation of Carolyn Jacobs.
Jacobs resigned five days after criticizing black resident of Philadelphia seen on video looting stores in Philadelphia earlier this month.
“I think even animals know they don’t mess their own dens,” Jacobs said at the June 8 council meeting.
Carter, a planning board member and former school board member, was one of three names submitted to the council by the Cherry Hill Democratic organization.
There was no discussion or debate on Carter’s nomination to fill the seat.
The other two, 74-year-old Lorraine Maitland and 72-year-old Anna Postiloff, declined to appear at the council meeting. Both were invited to attend either in person or remotely, municipal clerk Nancy Saffos said.
Council President David Fleisher defended criticism that the council did a poor job communicating Jacobs’ resignation to local residents, and the process used to select a replacement.
Cherry Hill Republican Municipal Chairman Jeffrey Land said the entire situation smacked of backroom politics.
“It was done in secret because we didn’t learn about her resignation at another public meeting. It was all done in the dark and on social media. There were no public pronouncements against what the councilwoman said,” Land said. “There were no meetings held to admonish her for what was said. Or even to ask her to explain her comments more. No one even bothered to do anything about the racist language until more than a week after it occurred.”
Land said the events of the last week was “not a good start” for Shin Angulo’s administration.
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