The resignation of Verona Councilman Cynthia Holland will trigger a non-partisan special election in November for the remaining 25 months of her term, but that might not be the only council seat that opens up this fall.
Another councilwoman, Christine McGrath, won the Democratic nomination for Essex County Commissioner-at-Large on June 2, and her election in November is virtually assured: the office she’s seeking hasn’t elected a Republican since 1971.
McGrath would need to resign on December 31 to take her seat as a county commissioner the next day. That means the council would appoint a replacement in January 2027 who would serve for nearly one year – until the new council takes office on January 1, 2028.
But McGrath has another option: if she resigns by late August, Verona voters could pick her replacement in the November election. The council could still appoint someone in September, but that person would only serve until the winner of the special election is certified in November; otherwise, the appointee would get a one-year free ride.
The two-term councilwoman declined to say if she was prepared to leave early to allow voters to pick someone to fill her unexpired term.
“I’m very focused on meeting as many residents across Essex County as possible and serving out my term in Verona,” McGrath told the New Jersey Globe.
The Verona Township Council is expected to fill Holland’s seat at a council meeting tonight.
According to MyVeronaNJ, four candidates are seeking consideration for an appointment to replace Holland: Kate Hartwyk, the deputy director for the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, and a cousin of former Gov. Richard Codey; Zoning Board Chairman Dan McGinley, who lost a council bid fifteen years ago; Corey Schor, the local Parks and Recreation Committee chairman; and Monica Vincent, a member of the Verona Library Board of Trustees.
The filing deadline to run in the special election is August 20.
While Verona holds non-partisan elections, McGrath and Holland had often served as a more unified voting block against the three men on the council. In 2023, the council bypassed McGrath for mayor.
One possible future candidate is Christian Strumolo, whose history of legal and financial difficulties was expunged by a Superior Court Judge earlier this year. An attorney representing Strumolo had threatened legal action against the New Jersey Globe unless a news story detailing his prior arrests and other problems was removed; this publication declined to remove the story, which was part of the record of his unsuccessful council race. He has not filed a lawsuit.
(MyVeronaNJ, under a previous owner, Virginia Citrano, opted to remove the story from its archives.)
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