Council Votes Eck as Acting Mayor [VIDEO]

The Chatham Borough Council passed a resolution approving Nicholas Eck as the acting mayor, effective through Dec. 31.

Eck, along with Marcy Wecker and Douglas Herbert, were nominated by the Chatham Borough Democrats as candidates to fill the position left vacant by .

The resolution passed by a vote of 5-0 with one abstension.

"I thought they should pick it among themselves," Councilman Vicki Fife said. "They were all excellent candidates, and I just thought they should be the ones to choose."

Council President Lonergan expressed a similar view. "My own personal take was, give it to them and let them decide, ... but I think we have a duty to fill the role."

Fife works with Eck on the communications committee, and credits him for the launch of the .

Mayor-elect Bruce Harris also cited Eck's work on the committee when he gave the candidate his support.

"I think Nick has really helped that committee move forward," he said. "I really appreciate his efforts."

Councilman Len Resto complimented the time, efforts and dedication of the three candidates.

"I think Nick has shown leadership, as all of the candidates have," he said. "I've been very impressed. ... But I think Nick might be a good choice."

Councilmen James Collander and John Holman thanked Wecker and Herbert for their numerous volunteer activities in the borough and for submitting themselves as candidates.

"We had to choose one," Collander said.

Holman said, "Anybody who volunteers ... deserves our respect. We appreciate all three of you."

"I think all of us know the three candidates," Lonergan said. "Personally, I feel confident that any of those three candidates are qualified to fill the spot for the next two and a half weeks."

After the resolution was approved, Lonergan said, "I'm looking out, and I don't see Nick Eck." DiFiglia informed the governing body that Eck was running late due to "a transportation mishap."

"Of all the nights, Ed!" Lonergan said, illiciting laughter from the council and members of the public gathered.

"Must take NJ Transit," Resto said with a smile.

"He'd better be here in time for the communications [Committee] meeting," Harris said.

Eck, along with Wecker and Herbert, spoke before the council at the last meeting. Eck ran for the council in 2008 with Martin Selzer on the Democratic ticket, against Mayor Elect Bruce Harris and Lonergan.

While Eck said he enjoyed the experience of running for office, "I would not actively seek office again. But since the committee nominated [me], I found it was best to follow their wishes and do what the committee had decided," Eck said in a previous interview with Patch.

Eck was not present for the vote that made him the borough's acting mayor; he was picking up his son Nate from lacrosse practice and his wife, Melissa Montuori, was shopping for groceries.

"I got a call [from Eck] saying 'Can you come over here and meet me?'" she said. "Then he called again and while I was in the parking lot and said, 'Hurry up, or you're going to miss the swearing in.'

"And I said, 'Oh, who is it?'

"'It's your husband.'"

Nate, 9, held the Bible for his father as Borough Clerk Susan Caljean swore him in.

DiFiglia gave the only remarks during the public hearing portion of the meeting.

"Personally, I have not enjoyed this process," he said. "It has disrupted what should have been a smooth transition from one administration to the next," and, he said, "interrupted the usual business of the council and the personal lives of the candidates."

Wecker and Herbert were among the first to offer their congratulations to Eck's appointment.