Palmyra council passed a resolution at its Jan. 27 meeting that will allow Solicitor Ted Rosenberg to seek a declaratory judgment in Superior Court for guidance on how to fill the vacant seat of former councilwoman Ladonna De’Souza.
“This is a novel issue,” said Rosenberg, noting De’Souza was appointed to fill the vacant seat of Dr. Laura Cloud in October and won a three-year term on council in the November election. But De’Souza resigned her new seat on Jan. 2 over questions surrounding her residency in the borough.
“I formally resign and decline the position I was offered,” she said in her resignation letter, and she was not present at council’s Jan. 4 reorganization meeting to take the oath of office for her new role. During last week’s meeting, Rosenberg told council members that, technically, there were two vacant seats: the appointed term seat by the governing body and the elected term seat.
Council then approved a resolution “authorizing the filing of a declaratory judgment action Nunc Pro Tunc with the Superior Court of New Jersey, law division, Burlington County, for guidance as to procedures to fill on a temporary and a permanent basis two vacancies that exist for the position of borough councilperson and to schedule the appropriate elections.”
Council’s options include appointing someone to replace De’Souza or putting the position to a public vote in a special or general election. The resolution says that plaintiff borough Clerk Doretha Jackson seeks “the procedures for the correct filling of then-temporary vacancies and to schedule elections to fill permanently the aforesaid vacancies.”
Rosenberg filed the declaratory judgment action on Jan. 16 at the request of mayor and council, and the resolution stated that, “all actions by the clerk and the solicitor in regard to the filing of the lawsuit are ratified and retroactive to Jan. 16, 2025.”
Superior Court Judge Richard Hertzberg ruled on Jan. 24 that the judgment’s defendants had to respond to the request for the information by Feb. 18 and had “to appear and show cause on the fourth day of March before the Superior Court” in Mount Holly. They are the Palmyra Democratic and Republican municipal committees and New Jersey’s Attorney General, Matthew Platkin, in his official capacity only.
Questions to be answered in the civil action include how the vacancy in the appointed term seat should be temporarily filled and if there will be an expansion of time limits pursuant to state election law “for the names of nominees and/or the appointment of the successor to the vacancy for the (appointed term seat).”
Another question is whether the vacancy in the elected term seat “for the balance of the unexpired term through Dec. 31, 2027, shall be filled by a special election or in the general election of November 2025.” Hertzberg also wants to know how the vacancy in the elected term seat “shall be temporarily filled” pursuant to state law.
In other business during the council session, members approved resolutions to comply with the Fair Housing Act as amended; to authorize a Shared Service Agreement with Burlington County for snow removal effective, through Dec. 31, 2027; to appoint Darlene Smith as a part-time community center scheduling assistant at an hourly rate of $15.35; and to recognize January as Muslim Heritage Month.
The next meeting of Palmyra council will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17.
