Supervisors Pick Maskrey for New Hanover Vacancy

Photos by Evan Brandt

District Judge Maurice Saylor, center, administers the oath of office to Greg Maskrey, left, while Maskrey's wife Deb holds the Bible Thursday.

With no public discussion and even less hesitation, the New Hanover Township Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday night to appoint Greg Maskrey to the vacant seat on the board, thus ignoring the will of voters who chose Keith Youse over Maskrey in the May primary.

The appointment of Maskrey likely pleased at least one voter, the man he replaced.

When he announced his retirement in May, outgoing Charles D. Garner Jr. endorsed Maskrey for the primary election. 

According to the minutes of the May 6 meeting where Garner announced his intentions, Garner said "in his opinion one candidate is far more qualified than the other candidate, suggesting that Mr. Maskrey would make an excellent supervisor."

It was not Maskrey however, but former New Hanover Police officer Keith Youse who won the Republican and Democratic primary elections, beating Maskrey in the Republican contest by a vote total of 780 to 679, according to official results.

Youse also won 134 write-in votes on the Democratic line.

There are six months remaining on Garner's term and it expires on Dec. 31. Presuming there is no surging write-in candidate in the November election, Youse will take Maskrey's place on Jan. 1, 2022.

Youse made headlines in 2019 when he accused Police Chief Kevin McKeon and (now-retired) Sgt. William Moyer of making racist remarks and other improprieties. 

He, Moyer and Sharon Hoffman all applied to fill the vacancy left by Garner's resignation.

All four were publicly interviewed for the post at a meeting on June 28.

After the vote, Maskrey produced an evidently pre-prepared letter of resignation from the township zoning hearing board given that state law does not allow him to serve on both boards.

Supervisors Chairman Kurt Zebrowski, who made the motion to appoint Maskrey, thanked all four applicants. "It was a good group to choose from," he said.

"It was a tough choice," added Supervisor Marie Livelsberger.

Both Maskrey and Hoffman congratulated Maskrey and wished him well.

"I'm pleased to sit here and serve with the four of you," Maskrey told the other four supervisors. "Hopefully we can do good things in the next six months."

Once again, several other newsworthy things happened last night, but you'll have to be patient while I write them up, or get a sneak peek by clicking here and reading this Twitter recap.

Newly seated New Hanover Supervisor Greg Maskrey, second from left, participating in Thursday's meeting after being sworn in.