Glen Rock November 16, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Republicans survive mayoral election cliffhanger by John Koster Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren won his third four-year term in an Election Day cliffhanger, in which Democratic challenger Mark McCullough received a healthy number of ballots. Republican council incumbents Pamela Biggs and Art Pazan won re-election after fending off a challenge from Democrat Howard Fox. Mayor van Keuren, writing the tallies at the Glen Rock Annex, was knocked for a loop early in the race, when the first district results from District 6 showed McCullough leading with 198 votes to van Keuren’s 151, and District 7 showed McCullough winning 231 votes to 142. Audible groans from several of the 30 or so Republicans at the Glen Rock Annex dissolved into sighs of relief when the second count proved to be a misreading. The actual tally for District 7 was 242 for van Keuren and 213 for McCullough. The count, which began just after the polls closed at 8 p.m., was somewhat tense until the last three districts sustained the pattern established by District 7. McCullough made a strong showing, but van Keuren maintained a small but consistent lead in every other district. In the end, van Keuren led 1,692 to 1,455, making an upset by the 130 absentee ballots impossible. “Thank God it’s over,” Mayor van Keuren said briefly when asked for a comment. Fox, a newcomer to Glen Rock politics, received 1,375 votes, but did not win a seat on the council. Biggs was re-elected with 1,865 votes and Pazan was re-elected with 1,809. Pazan thanked the campaign workers and said he believed Glen Rock had maintained the team needed to cope with tough times through fiscal conservatism. Biggs also thanked everyone concerned. Mayor van Keuren, a two-term incumbent, had served as a member of the Glen Rock Borough Council for 10 years before serving eight years as mayor. A graduate of Hamilton College with a major in mathematics, van Keuren was employed as an actuary for many years. The mayor regularly has coffee at Starbucks on Rock Road near the Glen Rock Post Office for several hours on Saturday mornings to hear neighborhood and individual concerns from the residents. McCullough is a graduate of Hope (continued on page 16)