Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey


The Mayor of the City of Hoboken is the head of the executive branch of government of Hoboken, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint deputy mayors, department heads, and aides; and approve or veto ordinances passed by the City Council. The mayor is popularly elected in a nonpartisan general election. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits.
Thirty-eight individuals have held the office of mayor since the City of Hoboken was chartered on March 29, 1855. Cornelius V. Clickener was the inaugural mayor of the city, and served two consecutive terms. The current mayor is Ravinder Bhalla; he was first elected in November 2017. On July 20, 2010, the Hoboken Council voted to move the nonpartisan municipal elections to be held on the same day as the statewide general election in November.

Duties and powers

The City of Hoboken is organized as a mayor-council form of government under the Optional Municipal Charter Law. This provides for a citywide elected mayor serving in an executive role, as well as a city council serving in a legislative role. All of these offices are selected in a nonpartisan municipal election and all terms are four years. Under state law, the mayor has the duty to enforce the charter and ordinances of the city, and all applicable state laws; report annually to the council and the public on the state of the city; supervise and control all departments of the government; prepare and submit to the council annual operating and capital budgets; supervise all city property, institutions and agencies; sign all contracts and bonds requiring the approval of the city; negotiate all contracts; and serve as a member, either voting or ex officio, of all appointive bodies.
The mayor has the power to appoint departments heads with the approval of the City Council; to remove department heads subject to a two-thirds disapproval by the City Council; approve or veto ordinances subject to an override vote of two-thirds of the council; and appoint deputy mayors. The mayor is permitted to attend and participate in meetings of the City Council, without a vote, except in the case of a tie on the question to fill a council vacancy.

Succession

In the event of an absence, disability, or other cause preventing the mayor from performing his duties, the mayor may designate the business administrator or any other department head as acting mayor for up to 60 days. In the event of a vacancy in the office, the President of the City Council becomes acting mayor, and the council has 30 days to name an interim mayor. If no interim mayor is named, the Council President continues as acting mayor until a successor is elected, or until the council reorganizes and selects a new President. Prior to 1971, there was no automatic succession law.

Mayors

RankRankMayorYears in officeNotes
11Cornelius V. Clickener1855–1857Cornelius V. Clickener was the first mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey.
22, 4Franklin B. Carpenter1857–1858, 1859–1860He was a lumber merchant who served in the New York State Assembly from Otsego County in 1845. He served two nonconsecutive terms as the second and fourth mayor from 1857 to 1858 and 1859 to 1860. He then served one term in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1861.
33George William Morton1858–1859Morton served as the first Treasurer of Hoboken being elected in the 1855 Charter election. He was appointed as a Water Commissioner in 1857. Morton was the Democratic nominee for mayor in 1858. He served a single term and was defeated by his predecessor in the 1859 election. Morton was the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
under Judge Samuel Rossiter Betts.
45John R. Johnston1860–1863"Hon. John R. Johnston. Mayor of Hoboken, died early on Saturday morning, after a protracted illness, in the 67th year of his age. Mayor Johnston was an upright man, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. The funeral will take place this afternoon, at 2 o'clock, from Trinity Church, and will be attended by the City authorities."
56Lorenzo Welton Elder1863–1864He was a brigade surgeon of the New Jersey Army National Guard. It was through his efforts that the Hudson County Board of Health was established. He was president of the Hudson County Pathology Society and was deputy adjutant-general on the staff of Governor Rodman McCamley Price. He was the local medical examiner of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey, and of the New York Life Insurance Company. He was three times elected as the tax commissioner for Hoboken.
67Charles T. Perry1864–1865He was born on January 10, 1812 in Massachusetts to George Perry. On December 13, 1838 in Sandwich, Massachusetts he married Caroline Goodson. Perry was President of the Hudson County Gaslight Company and a director of the First National Bank of Hoboken. Perry died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head on January 9, 1872.
78Frederick Beasley Ogden1865–1867
89Frederick W. Bohnstedt1867–1869
910Hazen Kimball1869–1871He was born on February 19, 1835 in Barton, Vermont. He was vice president of the First National Bank of Hoboken and president of the Gansevoort Bank of New York. He died on June 22, 1890 of apoplexy in Hoboken, New Jersey.
1011Frederick L. Schmersahl1871–1873He was a German-American merchant.
1112Peter McGavisk1873–1875
1213Joseph Russel1875–1878
1314, 16Elbridge Van Syckel Besson1878–1880, 1881–1883
1415John A. O'Neill1880–1881
1517Herman L. Timken1883–1886
1618Edwin J. Kerr1886–1888
1719August Grassman1888–1891
1820Edward R. Stanton1891–1892
1921William Ellis1892–1893-
2022Lawrence Fagan1893–1901-
2123Adolph Lankering1901–1906
2224George Henry Steil1906–1910
2325George Washington Gonzales1910–1912
2426Martin Cooke1912–1915
2527Patrick R. Griffin1915–1926
2628Gustav Bach1926–1929
2729Bernard N. McFeely1930–1947
2830Fred M. De Sapio1947–1953
2931John J. Grogan1953–1965
3032, 34Louis De Pascale1965, 1965–1973
3133Silvio Failla1965
3235Steve Cappiello1973–1985
3336Thomas Vezzetti1985–1988He served as mayor from 1985 until he died in office in 1988. He fought against the gentrification of the city.
3437Patrick Pasculli1988–1993He served as acting mayor at the death of Vezzetti. He ran for mayor in 1989 on the promise to open the Hoboken waterfront to development. Pasculli's campaign led to the formation of the Coalition for a Better Waterfront which opposed his plan to lease city-owned land to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for commercial development.
3538Anthony Russo1993–2001He was charged with corruption in 2003 while a Hoboken city councilman.
3639David Roberts2001–2009A former firefighter who served two consecutive terms.
3740Peter Cammarano2009Arrested in Operation Bid Rig and resigned 30 days after being sworn into office.
3841Dawn Zimmer2009–2017Dawn Zimmer was the first female Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. As president of the city council, became acting mayor after Cammarano's resignation. Won special election on November 6, 2009 for the remainder of Cammarano's term. Elected in her own right in 2013.
3942Ravi Bhalla2017–Ravi Bhalla is the first Sikh Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. He was endorsed by predecessor Dawn Zimmer who announced in June 2017 that she would not be seeking re-election.