Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders

The Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is a body of five people that govern Sussex County, New Jersey. The members of the board are referred to as freeholders. They are elected at-large by popular vote. The last democrat to serve on the board was Howard Burrell who served on the board from 2000 to 2002. [1]

Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Leadership
Director	Herb Yardley (R) since January 3, 2019
Deputy Director	Sylvia Petillo (R) since January 1, 2018
Structure
Seats	5
Length of term	3 years
Elections
Last election	November 6, 2018
Next election	November 5, 2019
Website
Sussex County Freeholders

Structure

Sussex County Administration Building where the Freeholders meet

The board is the legislative body of Sussex County, New Jersey. They are responsible for the adoption of a budget for the county. The board oversees, and creates policies for the county's Departments of Central and Shared Services, Engineering and Planning, Finance and Library Services, and the Department Health and Human Services. Among those departments they also operate multiple boards, and committees.[2] They also oversee the boards of estimates for Sussex County Technical School, and Sussex County Community College. The board also has the authority over the county's infrastructure. Meetings are held in Newton, New Jersey in the Sussex County Administrative Center.[3] Each year during the re organization meetings Freeholders choose two members from the board to serve as Director and Deputy Director. The current Director is Freeholder Herb Yardley and the current Deputy Director is Freeholder Sylvia Petillo.

Party affiliation

Affiliation		Members
	Republican Party	5
	Democratic Party	0
Total		5

Sessions

2019

In April the Freeholder board approved a resolution that would put a question on the ballot that would ask the Sheriff to ignore the sanctuary state directive sent out by State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in November 2018. Grewal sent a letter to Sussex County Clerk Jeff Parrott telling him not to put the question on the ballot. Sheriff Mike Strada in turn asked Attorney General William Barr for legal assistance. [4] In July the board hired state Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt as legal counsel in fighting the state Attorney General. [5]

Previous Sessions

Year	Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3	Seat 4	Seat 5
2002	Howard Burrell (D)	JoAnn D'Angeli (R)	Glen Vetrano (R)	Hal Wirths (R)	Susan M. Zellman (R)
2003	Gary R. Chiusano (R)
2004
2005		Steve Oroho (R)
2006
2007
2008		Jeff Parrott (R)
2008	Philip R. Crabb (R)[n 1]
2009
2010			Rich Zeoli (R)
2010				Parker Space (R) [n 2] [n 3]
2011		Richard Vohden (R)
2012
2013			Dennis Mudrick (R)		Gail Phoebus (R)
2013				George F. Graham [n 4]
2014
2015
2016			Carl Lazzaro (R)		Jonathan Rose (R)
2017		Sylvia Petillo (R)
2018	Herb Yardley (R)
2019			Josh Hertzberg (R)		Dawn Fantasia (R)

1. Appointed to the Board on February 15, 2008
2. Appointed to the Board on June 16, 2010
3. Appointed to the New Jersey General Assembly on March 21, 2013
4. Appointed to the Board on April 12, 2013

Former Members

• Alfred Littell , member of the board in 1956 and member of the New Jersey Senate from 1943 to 1953.

• Howard Burrell , elected in 1999 and most recent democrat to serve on the board.

• Vic Marotta , on the board from 1988 to 1991 and served as Mayor of Vernon, New Jersey from 2011 to 2015. [6]

• Jeff Parrott , on the board from 2008 to 2010 lost the 2010 primary to current Assemblyman Parker Space, has served as County Clerk since 2011. [7]

• Phil Crabb , served on the board from 2008 to 2017, and later served on the Franklin Borough Council in 2018. [8]

• Jonathan Rose on the board from 2016 to 2018 and lost re-election to Dawn Fantasia in the 2018 republican primary. [9]

• Carl Lazzaro , in office from 2016 to 2018 and lost the 2018 GOP primary to Josh Hertzberg.

References

1. "Freeholder Candidate Perez Names Howard Burrell Campaign Manager". tapinto.net. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
2. "Board of Freeholders". sussex.nj.us. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
3. sussex.nj.us https://www.sussex.nj.us/cn/meetings/?did=223. Retrieved July 14, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. "N.J. sheriff asks for Trump's help in getting anti-sanctuary state question on the ballot". NJ.com. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
5. "Immigration battle escalates as county hires GOP chair to combat Murphy's AG". NJ.com. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
6. "Former Vernon mayor attempting a political comeback". NJ.com. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
7. "Defeat opened door to new beginning for Parrott". NJ Herald. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
8. "Crabb chosen for Franklin Borough Council seat". NJ Herald. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
9. "GOP challengers oust 2 Freeholdera". NJ Herald. Retrieved July 14, 2019.