The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Franklin Township officially lost its mayor at 3:10 p.m. on Jan. 6.
That’s the time when Brian Levine completed his Oath of Office as a Somerset County Freeholder. With his wife and two daughters by his side, Levine repeated the oath as administered to him by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
Before the meeting, Levine said that he had sent a note on Jan. 5 to Township Clerk Ann Marie McCarthy stating that he was resigning as mayor “at the moment I was sworn in as a freeholder.”
Levine won election to the Freeholder board in November, along with incumbent Peter Palmer. State law prohibits dual-office holding.
With a number of state and local dignitaries – and members of his family – in the audience at the old courthouse in Somerville, Levine said that he was “honored to be sitting in this seat.”
Levine said that he would be pro-active as a Freeholder and said that even though there are times when he will compromise, “there are times when I will not,” generally in the areas of fiscal responsibility and public safety.
“Dreams can become reality if you set a worthy goal,” Levine said later.
Saying that he wants to work for all residents, Levine said “I’ll put confidence in all of you as you put confidence in me.”
“The best days of Somerset County are ahead of us,” he said.
Among those in the audience were State Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17), township police chief Lawrence Roberts and other members of the area’s state legislative delegation.
