By Henry M. Holden       

 Roxbury Councilman Richard Zoschak, passed away in March 2021. Landing resident, Shawn Potillo, a 43-year-old Republican, was one of three candidates nominated by the Roxbury Republican Club to fill the Ward 1 council vacancy, Kenneth Schwemmer and Amy Overman were the other nominees.

Potillo grew up in Port Morris and when he was in the sixth grade his family moved to Byram. 

“After high school, I attended County College of Morris and then floated around for a while, before starting my career with Audio Visual Dynamics,” said Potillo. “I started there as a warehouse tech learning equipment and working with it. I did everything including sweeping the floors.” Today, Portillo is a senior project manager.

“This is my 20th year with Audio Visual Dynamics. We do audio visual production work for corporations. Most of our clients are based in New Jersey but we travel all over the world.”

Potillo, his wife and daughter, Isabella moved to Landing about ten-years ago. “Having a daughter in the school system, I wanted to find a way to work with the community. I reached out to Christopher Raths, the former Township Manager, to ask him how I could get involved in the community. He suggested that I start coming to Council meetings and watch what is going on. This was about nine years ago. I started going to council meetings, and I regularly attended meetings for two years,” 

“I just attended the meetings as a resident and began to understand what was going on in the community.”

“After about two years of going to the meetings the council appointed me to my first committee which was the Gateway Landing Committee. Most committees in town are council-appointed committees.”

Potillo’s next appointment was to the Roxbury Planning Board, where he stayed for several years. 

“Then my next appointment was to the Economic Development Committee. That was followed by an appointment to the Recreation Advisory Committee, and the Master Plan Committee. None of these were elected or paid positions. All I wanted to do was contribute to my community. Part of my plan was to understand what was going on in my community before I even attempted to help at any level.”

The three candidates to fill that vacancy each presented themselves to the council, and in effect campaigned for the position. “The council voted unanimously for me to become a council member and fill the vacancy left by Richard Zoschak.”

Before the vote, Amy Overman withdrew from the process because she felt Potillo was better equipped to understand the problems since he lived in the middle of the Ward, and she lived on the very edge of Ward 1.

“Kenny Schwemmer is a great candidate. He has a lot of time left to gain more experience and will be a great candidate and a great councilman in the future. Amy Overman has since become the treasurer for my campaign since I must run in a special election in November,”

“I will continue to get things done and move Ward 1 forward as Rich Zoschak did for the last 17 years. Rich had some big shoes to fill. It is silly of me to say that I can fill those shoes, because you never know what life will bring. But I can say I am ready to try,” Potillo said. 

“First, Rich served 17 years on the council. That alone is an accomplishment. He was a constant presence not just in Ward 1 but in the entire community. He was an advocate for Landing, which is one of the sections of Ward 1. He never stopped fighting. He fought for budgets, and finances for Landing and Port Morris. I hope to continue that trend so that we get new development in Landing,” Potillo said. 

“I live here, I breathe here, I want to help the community, I want to be accessible to the community. My goal is to continue the great work that Rich Zoschak was involved in. I just want to help. I volunteer my time because my community matters to me. I want to help it and leave it better than I found it, and I think I can do that. I know I can do that!”