Roger Terry appointed to Montclair Township Council seat vacated by Peter Yacobellis

Montclair’s Township Council has appointed onetime Councilor at Large Roger Terry to replace Peter Yacobellis, who vacated his at-large seat on the fractured body this month in a sudden move he said was needed to protect his emotional health.

Mayor Sean Spiller presented Terry as the natural choice because he received 22% of all votes for the seat in 2020, placing him just behind Yacobellis, according to the Essex County clerk's office.

Wednesday's vote was 4-2, with Councilors Robert Russo and David Cummings dissenting in a fiery reproach of Spiller for his swift motion to appoint a nominee, who they said had majority support before the two outliers even arrived in the council chamber for the emergency meeting.

"I'll work with Roger, but I don't like the process," Cummings stated for the public record.

Terry is no stranger to the council. He served in its at-large position from 2008 to 2012 under then-Mayor Jerry Fried after leaving a 35-year career on Montclair's police force, eventually rising to deputy chief.

After his first and only term on the dais, Terry eschewed a run for reelection and instead campaigned for Essex County sheriff in the Democratic primary but lost to longstanding Sheriff Armando Fontoura.

Terry walks into a vastly different council from the one on which he previously served, as Spiller and Councilor Robin Schlager won their seats on a 2012 slate that nearly wiped out Fried's council, save for Renée Baskerville, who at the time retained her post serving the 4th Ward.

Bill Hurlock, also elected in 2012, and Russo ― who returned under former Mayor Robert Jackson that same year ― expressed their faith in Terry, citing years of working with him on municipal issues outside of the council.

But new colleagues aside, Terry's greatest asset may be experience working on a council at odds with itself.

“Roger is a true gentleman and cares deeply about Montclair. We disagreed about virtually every important decision during our term of service, but never was there disrespect between us," Fried said Tuesday.

At the time, Terry was known for often, but not always, voting with Councilors Rich Murnick and Cary Africk, who rarely fell in lockstep with the block Fried led with then-Deputy Mayor Kathryn Weller-Demming and Councilor Nick Lewis.

However, his allegiance was hardly predictable. In one example, Terry was the only council member to vote against an ordinance protecting shade trees, saying he opposed regulating what residents could do with their private property.

In 2012, he voted with the majority to build affordable housing on a wooded tract on Wildwood Avenue near Brookdale Park in the 1st Ward. The controversial sale of town-owned green space created a clash between two liberal causes: environment and financial integration.

Terry made another run at local governance three years ago on Spiller’s “Progress in Action” ticket with Hurlock, Schlager, Russo and Lori Price Abrams but lost his chance at either of Montclair's two at-large seats to Yacobellis and Russo.

'One of those railroad jobs'

On Tuesday, Yacobellis acknowledged he had suggested Terry for his vacancy, saying it was not motivated by the elder statesman's policy perspectives, but rather by a predilection for a so-called "caretaker" replacement and not a candidate with eyes for higher office.

"I just don’t think we need three potential mayoral candidates sitting next to each other on the dais," Yacobellis said, in reference to Baskerville, who was another front-runner for the vacancy.

"He’s shown incredible character as a person, putting the town first consistently," Yacobellis said. "I beat him for this seat, and he reached out to me immediately and asked how he can help. He’s been a mentor ever since."

Yacobellis was not averse to other choices, including Planning Board member Carmel Loughman or James Cotter. Both ran for Yacobellis' at-large seat three years ago. But he expressed discomfort with Russo and Cummings lobbying for those options, as well as Baskerville, suspecting that his former colleagues were attempting to set up a potential running mate for next year's election rather than voting for what Montclair needs now.

However, whether or not he did so in public, Yacobellis said he had lobbied for his own choice, and done so in direct dealing with Spiller, once again eliciting complaints from Cummings and Russo that they were frozen out of important decisions.

As for why he did not broach the topic with other colleagues, Yacobellis said ― perhaps as a final dig at his former sparring partners ― "I've found Bob and David not to be serious legislators."

Baskerville was in attendance at the meeting and took to the lectern to address the expected fait accompli about to unfold and appeal to her former colleagues to weigh all options before a vote.

"I understand that before I was aware the seat was going to be vacated by Peter Yacobellis, some other member ― a person I happen to be close to ― had four votes to fill that seat," Baskerville said. Speaking directly to her former colleagues, she asked why she was allegedly so swiftly overlooked: "What is it I'm not doing?"

After Baskerville concluded her statements, Spiller commended her tireless efforts for the community, on and off the dais. He then said he would answer her question with "my action," moving seamlessly into a motion to appoint Terry, which was immediately seconded by Hurlock, eliciting an explosive response from Russo.

"This is another one of those railroad jobs, mayor," Russo said, as he decried the lack of discussion before the call for a vote. "A young lady just spoke, and I was going to nominate her. Now I can't?"

Spiller replied curtly: "That is literally how it works. Someone has to make one. I just made one."

Tensions continued to worsen as Russo and Cummings spoke highly of Terry but denounced the proceeding. Unflappable amid the fracas, Spiller attributed the decision to Terry's experience as a leader and again noted that it is routine for such an appointment to go to the next-highest vote-getter.

"It is nothing more than that," the mayor said.

Price Abrams ran through a “litany” of Terry’s work for the township but concluded by saying, “It’s not because I made a list and this list is longer than that,” speaking to Baskerville’s bona fides as well, “it’s the person who I know will give me and this body the thoughtful ability to move forward.”

But Russo and Cummings would not rest. The latter asked Spiller directly when he had reached out to Terry regarding the appointment, concerned the two might have discussed the matter before Yacobellis vacated his seat.

Spiller demurred, only referring back to his motion.

“For the mayor not to say when someone reached out to him says a lot,” Cummings said to the public.

The day before the vote, Yacobellis explained his actions in taking his preference to Spiller rather than the full board, saying he "wanted to make sure [the mayor] was comfortable with the candidate," as the head of the body.

"I haven’t gone out of my way to sell Roger to the community, which is what I think Bob and David [were] doing for Renée," he said of emails from Russo offering multiple options for the vacant seat, including Baskerville.

But days earlier, just after his abrupt exit, Yacobellis acknowledged he had presented his choice not only to Spiller, but also to Schlager and Price Abrams, seeming to have knowingly excluded others from the matter.

Spiller acknowledged having a one-on-one conversation with Yacobellis about the appointment. Schlager confirmed she had a similar discussion with her soon-to-be-former colleague along with Price Abrams over the phone, during which Yacobellis offered "a suggestion."

However, Price Abrams does not recall speaking with her now-former colleague other than a brief conversation as they left a council meeting the previous week, during which he may have suggested Terry.

"If so, I gave it no mind, as I did not/do not believe it was a choice that was his to make," she said.

Why Peter Yacobellis left

Yacobellis publicly announced he was vacating his seat in a sudden Thursday night announcement that came only one hour after he alerted his council colleagues of the move.

By the next afternoon, Yacobellis was already in his car driving to Washington state, where he had rented a condo until plans to make the move permanent unfolded.

Not only had he left behind his seat on the council, Yacobellis had split with his domestic partner and given up his home, and he intends eventually to resign from his post at Out Montclair, a local LGBTQ+ organization.

As drastic as the move may seem, he said the life change was a purposeful effort to bolster his emotional health, which had deteriorated during his three years on the Township Council.

"I think there’s a difference between having a breakdown and intentionally breaking things down," he recently told The Montclair Times/NorthJersey.com, adding, "Nothing’s falling apart."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair town council appoints Roger Terry to vacated at-large seat