Editing Middletown Township, New Jersey (section)

===Local government===
[[File:New Middletown Town Hall.jpg|alt=Middletown Town Hall|thumb|Middletown Town Hall]]
The Township Committee operates under a [[Special charter (New Jersey)|special charter]] approved on June 23, 1971, by the [[New Jersey Legislature]]; The charter preserves many aspects of the [[Township (New Jersey)|township]] form of government. The township is one of 11 (of the 564) municipalities statewide governed under a special charter.<ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/inventory_of_municipal_forms_of_government_in_new_jersey.pdf ''Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey''], [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=15 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 15. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref>Cerra, Michael F. [https://www.njlm.org/809/3982/Forms-of-Govt-Magazine-Article "Forms of Government: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask"], [[New Jersey State League of Municipalities]], March 2007. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> The township's governing body is comprised of the five-member Township Committee, whose members are elected [[at-large]] in partisan elections to three-year terms on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle as part of the November general election. At an annual reorganization meeting, the Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another as Deputy Mayor, each for a one-year term. The Township Committee establishes municipal policies and programs and appropriates funds.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 67.</ref>

{{As of|2025}}, members of the Middletown Township Committee are Mayor Anthony S. Perry Jr. ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]], term on committee ends December 31, 2027; term as mayor ends 2025), Deputy Mayor Rick W. Hibell (R, term on committee and as deputy mayor ends 2025), Ryan M. Clarke (R, 2026), Kimberly Kratz (R, 2026) and Kevin M. Settembrino (R, 2025).<ref name=Committee>[https://www.middletownnj.org/232/Township-Committee Township Committee], Middletown Township. Accessed January 30, 2025. "Township of Middletown operates under the Township Committee form of government. The 5 members are elected at-large to staggered 3-year terms. The Township Committee conducts a reorganization meeting annually in January. At this meeting the Township Committee elects one of the 5 members to serve as Mayor and 1 to serve as Deputy Mayor for a 1-year term."</ref><ref>[https://www.middletownnj.org/DocumentCenter/View/10599/2024-Municipal-Budget-Adopted 2024 Municipal Data Sheet], Middletown Township. Accessed January 30, 2025.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2024>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/122857/web.345435/#/summary November 5, 2024 General Election Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]], updated December 16, 2024. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2023>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/119047/web.317647/#/summary November 8, 2023 General Election Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]], updated January 18, 2024. Accessed January 22, 2024.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2022>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/116246/web.307039/#/summary General Election November 8, 2022 Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]] Clerk, updated December 27, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.</ref>

In September 2021, the Township Committee selected Kimberly Kratz from a list of three candidates nominated by the Republican municipal committee to fill the seat expiring in December 2023 that had been held by Patricia A. Snell until she resigned from office the previous month.<ref>Gecan, Alex N. [https://www.app.com/story/news/local/red-bank-middletown-area/middletown/2021/09/08/middletown-kimberly-kratz-pat-snell/5730924001/ "Middletown Township Committee selects Kimberly Kratz to succeed Pat Snell"], ''[[Asbury Park Press]]'', September 8, 2021. Accessed May 2, 2022. "The Township Committee has appointed Republican Kimberly Kratz, a longtime business manager and current chair of the Middletown Township Municipal Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, as the short-term successor to former Committeewoman Patricia Snell, who resigned last month. The appointment only stands until the results of November's general election are certified, township officials said Tuesday, but Kratz will also run to serve out the rest of Snell's term, according to state records."</ref> Kratz served on an interim basis until the November 2021 general election, when she was chosen by the voters to serve the balance of the term of office.<ref name=Monmouth2021>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/111499/web.278093/#/summary November 2, 2021 General Election Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]], December 13, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.</ref>

In February 2018, the Township Committee selected Rick Hibell to fill the seat expiring in December 2019 that was vacated by [[Gerard Scharfenberger]] after he resigned and took office on the [[Monmouth County, New Jersey|Monmouth County]] [[Board of County Commissioners (New Jersey)|Board of Chosen Freeholders]]; Hibell served on an interim basis until the November 2018 general election, when voters elected him to fill the balance of the term of office.<ref>Zimmer, Russ. [https://www.app.com/story/news/politics/monmouth-county/2018/02/20/middletown-nj-marijuana-weed-law/354121002/ "NJ marijuana legalization: Middletown rolls out weed law tonight"], ''[[Asbury Park Press]]'', February 20, 2018. Accessed February 21, 2018. "Rick Hibell, a former township fire chief and planning board member, will be appointed to fill Gerry Scharfenberger's seat on township committee. Scharfenberger stepped down last week to take an opening on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders."</ref><ref name=Monmouth2018>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/100184/web/#/summary General Election November 6, 2018 Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]] Clerk, updated January 7, 2020. Accessed February 8, 2020.</ref>

In November 2017, the committee chose Anthony Perry, the son-in-law of then-Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger, from three candidates nominated by the Republican municipal committee to fill the seat expiring in December 2018 that had been vacated by Stephen G. Massell the previous month when he resigned from office to accept a position on the Monmouth County Tax Board.<ref>Baldwin, Carly. [https://patch.com/new-jersey/middletown-nj/watch-nov-13-middletown-township-committee-meeting "Watch The Nov. 13 Middletown Township Committee Meeting; The Committee seat left vacant by Steve Massell was filled by Anthony Perry, son-in-law of Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger."], Middletown Patch, November 17, 2017. Accessed January 27, 2018. "The Committee seat left vacant by Steve Massell was filled with the appointment of Anthony Perry, the son-in-law of current Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger. Scharfenberger said he saw no conflict in voting to sit his son-in-law on the same governing body that he sits on."</ref><ref>Zimmer, Russ. [https://www.app.com/story/news/politics/monmouth-county/2017/11/13/middletown-nj-aveta-snell-perry/857733001/ "Tony Perry appointed to Middletown committee"], ''[[Asbury Park Press]]'', November 13, 2017. Accessed January 27, 2018. "Tony Perry was selected by the township committee to join their ranks during Monday night's meeting. Perry fills a vacancy that was created last month when Stephen Massell, who had been on the committee for eight years, stepped aside to accept an appointment to the Monmouth County Tax Board."</ref>

In October 2006, Middletown councilman and former four-term mayor Raymond J. O'Grady (R) was sentenced to 43 months in federal prison on bribery and extortion charges arising from his involvement in a federal sting operation known as [[Operation Bid Rig]] targeting political corruption in New Jersey. O'Grady committed to obtain no-bid contracts after he had accepted bribes from contractors in exchange for the work.<ref>Smothers, Ronald. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/nyregion/12sentence.html "Former Mayor of a Monmouth County Town Is Sentenced in a Corruption Case"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 12, 2006. Accessed January 17, 2017. "A former mayor of Middletown, N.J., was sentenced to 43 months in federal prison on Wednesday on bribery and extortion charges arising from a sting operation aimed at what prosecutors said was pervasive corruption in Monmouth County. The former mayor, Raymond J. O'Grady, 57, is the only one of nearly two dozen public officials and contractors caught up in the F.B.I. sting who has been tried. ... Prosecutors argued that Mr. O'Grady accepted the bribes with the understanding that he would use his office and influence to steer no-bid contracts to the agents posing as contractors."</ref>