City Clerk

The Committee to Recall James Whelan from the Office of Mayor has come up short - way short, the City Clerk's Office determined yesterday. Short as in, 4,271 signatures - the number needed to force a special mayoral election. That's right. City Clerk Benjamin R. Fitzgerald determined that none of the signatures collected by the recall committee was valid because, Fitzgerald said, eight of the 35 people who circulated the petitions were not registered voters. That means that none of the collected signatures can be counted, Fitzgerald said.

City Clerk James M. Reynolds must appear in Municipal Court on Feb. 21 to face a charge of simple assault filed by a political adversary, Deborah Polk, an assistant city business administrator. In a complaint filed on Wednesday, Polk alleged that Reynolds attempted to cause bodily injury to her by using both of his hands to push her right shoulder during the City Council's caucus on Tuesday. "I had heels on and fell back," and Reynolds "also did use profanity towards me," Polk said in the complaint.

Francis "Frank" J. Quigley Jr., 87, who served as Ventnor city clerk in the 1960s and '70s and was active in many area civic endeavors, died Monday in Greenbriar East Nursing Home in Deptford. A Deptford resident the last six years, he previously lived in Ventnor for 50 years. Mr. Quigley was elected to the Ventnor City Council in 1951, then ran for the city clerk's office in 1956. He won and served in that position for 16 years, retiring as a tenured clerk in 1973. Mr. Quigley helped found the Atlantic County Municipal Clerks Association and was a past president of the New Jersey State Municipal Clerks Association.

Milton Milan relaxed behind a desk in a fellow Camden councilman's empty office as he described what motivates him. "I feel like I'm being sucked into a vacuum of need," said the burly former Marine with a controversial past, who took his seat in City Council seven months ago at age 33. "When I'm ready to go to sleep, my pager goes off. . . . When I'm getting ready to eat, it goes off. " Camden City Council President Milan - who in...

Frank Costello, the second-longest-serving mayor in the county, will resign effective Jan. 1, becoming the latest in a group of mayors who have recently retired with more than 20 years in public office. Costello's tenure, 24 years, is surpassed only by that of his cousin, Herman Costello, mayor of Burlington City for 25 years. Last year, Riverside Mayor Robert Renshaw, Willingboro Mayor Paul Krane and Riverton Mayor Ann Cannon retired after each had served a long stint on council and eventually as mayor.

The new, reform-minded City Council must decide on Monday the fate of City Clerk Dorothy "Dot" Burley, who had not met state-mandated certification requirements when her three-year appointment ended last week. Two members of Council - the two who are not part of the faction that now holds a majority - said yesterday they believed that the five who will now control Council were inclined to replace Burley. Burley, 53, a longtime worker in the Camden Democratic Party, cannot be immediately reappointed to another three-year term Monday when the new council is sworn in because she failed to obtain a certificate required by the state to act as a registered municipal clerk.

A Democratic Party activist and former city clerk who was fired last month as an administrative aide at the Chester Economic Development Authority has initiated a complaint with the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission alleging racial bias at the authority. Her allegations were denied yesterday by officials at the authority. Sheila Hyland, 47, said that her troubles began at a May 3 staff meeting when Dianne Merlino, the authority's chairwoman, remarked that "Chester High School graduates can't read.

The Camden City Council is set to approve a 27 percent salary increase for the post of mayor of Camden, effective Jan. 1. The increase to $75,000 a year from the current $59,000 a year will benefit Mayor-elect Arnold W. Webster, who takes office Jan. 1. "We think the mayor of the city is underpaid," said Council president James Mathes Jr. following a Council caucus yesterday. "The raise is not relative to the person, but to the position. It is designed to attract the kind of leadership this city needs.

Camden Republican mayoral candidate Keith A. Walker does not own property or pay taxes in the city he wants to run. Walker, a Camden native, returned to the city on March 1, when he moved in with his brother on South 12th Street. His wife and children still live in Delaware. Nevertheless, Walker says he is committed to Camden and would move his family into the city if he wins the November election. His current living arrangement does not violate Camden's municipal-election rules.

Dorothy "Dot" Burley, a longtime soldier in the Camden city Democratic Party, was sworn in yesterday as the new city clerk. Burley, 50, a Camden resident, was sworn in to the $45,847-a-year job in an hour-long ceremony in the Council chambers packed with close to 100 well- wishers. She replaces John Odorisio, who retired Dec. 31 after serving 38 years as the city clerk. Camden Municipal Court Judge James Faison administered the oath, which was followed by a number of testimonials from friends, politicians and family, including Burley's mother, Lucille Boyd.