So. Bruns. official selected as freeholder
Barrett takes vacant seat; Dalina will be director
BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer
Middlesex County has a new freeholder and for the first time in over a decade, a new director.

Carol Barrett

During a special convention Sunday in East Brunswick, county Democrats elected South Brunswick Deputy Mayor Carol Barrett to the freeholder seat vacated when David B. Crabiel died on Dec. 1.

Barrett was to be sworn in to the board on Tuesday along with incumbent Ronald Rios and newcomer Mildred Scott during the freeholders' reorganization meeting at Middlesex County College in Edison.

Also Tuesday, the board was expected to name Stephen J. "Pete" Dalina as its director, a role Crabiel held for 13 of the 27 years he served as a freeholder. Dalina was deputy director under Crabiel and has been acting director for the past month.

"It's an honor to replace a person like Dave Crabiel, who was freeholder director for so many years in this county — the greatest county in the world, as he called it. It's really an honor to become the director," Dalina said.

Minimizing the tax impact on county residents will be the board's top priority, along with seeking out more open space and improving infrastructure, he said.

Pete Dalina

"Our main thing is to keep the taxes low for the taxpayers of Middlesex County, and also the infrastructure, seeking help from the state and federal governments to fix bridges and roads," Dalina said.

During Sunday's convention, Barrett earned 353 votes from committee members in the county Democratic organization. Former Edison Councilman Charles Tomaro garnered 186 votes, and Amy G. Papi of East Brunswick received 72 votes.

Middlesex County Sheriff and Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Spicuzzo said 611 of the 1,100-plus committee members voted during the election at East Brunswick Vocational and Technical High School, Rues Lane.

Barrett, 67, is retired from the Middlesex County Records and Archives Department. She is a former president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that represents all county employees.

"Carol Barrett's a very good candidate, and we had two other good candidates," Dalina said. "The committee chose who they wanted. She is going to be an asset to the county board now. She's experienced at being a union leader and so forth. She used to work in the county, so she knows what's going on."

Spicuzzo agreed that Barrett was a good choice, citing her work as an active union member and public servant. He noted that she has a lot of experience as councilwoman and deputy mayor, and is active in South Brunswick senior services.

"I've known Carol Barrett for a number of years, and I've learned to respect her as a union president at the clerical union for the county offices, and I've learned to respect her as a councilwoman and deputy mayor of South Brunswick," Spicuzzo said.

In South Brunswick, she was first elected to the Township Council in 1999 and became deputy mayor in 2001. She resigned from both the council and the workers' union earlier this week.

"It's very sad that I'm not going to be affiliatedwith the union, and it's sad to be leaving the council, but this is a wonderful opportunity, not only for me but for South Brunswick, and I'm just looking forward to the challenge," Barrett said.

Barrett will seek the party nomination from committee members in March to run in the primary election with Freeholders Rios and James Polos in June. The three would then run in the November general election.

The South Brunswick Township Council is going to select one of three candidates that county committee members from the town choose in the coming weeks to succeed Barrett.

Barrett noted that the southerly municipalities of Middlesex County are growing and should be represented on the freeholder board.

"On a larger scale, it's a long time coming that we've not had a representative … so I'm honored to be a representative from the southern part of the county," she said.

Barrett expressed an interest in ensuring that the 191-acre Van Dyke farm on Davidson Mill Road in South Brunswick is preserved, since it is a historically significant site that has slave quarters intact. A developer is in building 76 luxury houses on the property.

"The first thing I would like to do is to

get the money to buy the [William] Pulda farm," Barrett said. "We have been negotiating with the county for some time, and the state, on getting the funding, so I will be working very hard on doing that," she said.