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NORTHFIELD - Less than a month after the Northfield Rescue Squad was dropped as the city's EMS provider - by a party-line vote of five Republicans in favor and two Democrats against - squad president and former Democratic Mayor Frank Perri said he is planning to run for a seat on City Council in November's election.

Perri would run as the Democratic candidate in the 1st Ward in lieu of Michael Weeks, who won the party's primary for that seat just last month. Democratic Party of Northfield First Vice President Linda Dyrek said Weeks recently sold his house in Northfield and is moving to Linwood.

Dyrek said Weeks submitted his letter of resignation to the party June 25, although he has not officially notified the Atlantic County and municipal clerks of his withdrawal. She added that the Democratic Party of Northfield also has not officially nominated or endorsed a new candidate yet.

If Perri is nominated, his letter of acceptance would have to be approved by the Atlantic County Democratic Party and the county clerk.

"It's been in the works for a little bit," Perri said Friday. "I was approached by the mayor (Vince Mazzeo) and many people in government to fill the position. They asked me to give it some hard consideration. ... and I said yes."

Perri previously served for five years on City Council and three terms as mayor before stepping aside in 2007; he has never lost an election.

"It's not a personal vendetta on my end to go after them," Perri said. "If I were to move forward, I'd be an advocate for the people. ... The public not having a voice has made me concerned."

Perri would face incumbent 1st Ward Councilman Michael Turon in the Nov. 3 election. Turon was appointed in December to fill the remainder of Councilman Tim Carew's term after Carew was elected to an at-large seat.

Of the three incumbent Republican council members up for election in November - Turon, Carew and Steven Vain - Turon, a former rescue squad member himself, was arguably the least vocal in the debate over switching to AtlantiCare.

Before voting in favor of AtlantiCare at a special meeting June 10, Turon spoke at length about the issue for the first time, giving a detailed speech about how Northfield gave tens of thousands of dollars to the squad in 2007 and 2008 and that only by going out to bid did the city get a fully no-cost offer from the semi-paid, semi-volunteer squad.

Perri, meanwhile, said during that meeting's public session that the squad was financially solvent and that its bid was equal to that of AtlantiCare's while providing a lower cost of transport.

Turon and Weeks could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Democrat Paul Utts will face Carew for an at-large seat while Jeffrey Margolis will face Vain in the 2nd Ward.

E-mail Steven Lemongello:

SLemongello@pressofac.com

2 comments:

• VoicelessNF (3) posts 10:50 am

  Pretty sure Frank is going to have to drag along one of the two duds on his ticket to bring back the rescue squad. Would have been **far** smarter for him to have run for the at-large seat and drum up votes in both wards. No way Paul Utts should be anchoring the ticket. No one knows who the guy is.

• casino600 (2) posts 3:52 pm

  Frank Way to go, you have my support and all of the people in the City of Northfield. Mr. Turon better start packing up you office, you had your 5 min of fame. Remember who put you in and who you beat you in Nov. Residents of Northfield get out and vote, bring back the control to the Democrats and the NRS back to the residents.

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