Todd Tersigni says he has no regrets about his time in town government.
Todd Tersigni says he has no regrets.
When his second term concludes at 2017's end, so will his time in town government. The Phillipsburg council president will not run for a third term, he told lehighvalleylive.com on Friday.
Though he admitted he was tempted to mount a campaign, Tersigni said he wanted to keep to the two-term promise he made in the 2009 election.
"I believe I did the best I could for the residents of Phillipsburg and businesses alike," Tersigni said. "I always strived for a better quality of life."
A Republican for decades before, Tersigni ran for council in 2009 as a Democrat and was swept into office with Republicans Randy Piazza and Bernie Fey Jr. in a surprise victory against three incumbents.
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In 2011, he ran for mayor as an independent and lost to incumbent Harry Wyant. Tersigni was re-elected to council in 2013.
Local politics can be nasty, and Tersigni's tenure was no exception, particularly around his mayoral campaign when tensions ran high. More recently, when Democrats took control of the council majority in 2016, Tersigni returned to the Republican party following a fight over the new mayor's appointments.
But, Tersigni said Friday, he would not have done anything differently and is proud of what the town has accomplished.
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Specifically, he cited the progress with the former Ingersoll Rand tract -- for which a developer last year paid $2.5 million for the town's portion of the land -- lowering the town's debt, setting up surveillance cameras aimed to reduce crime, putting pressure on absentee landlords and pursuing shared services with neighboring towns.
"But there comes a time to move on," he said, wishing luck to whoever steps up to run.
After his term ends, Tersigni said he plans to stay involved with various civic organizations. A future run for political office can't be ruled out, though he said he does not plan a run for county freeholder this year.
"We'll see what tomorrow brings," he said.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.