Ward 1 incumbents face challenges from newcomer, former councilman
NORTHFIELD — Four people are seeking two Ward 1 seats on the seven-member Northfield City Council in the election Nov. 8.
Incumbents Paul Utts and Eric Leeds are facing challenges from political newcomer Renee Carfagno and former councilman Tom Corona, respectively.
Utts, 66, and his wife, Helen, moved to the city in 1985 and raised their three children. They now have one grandson.
Utts graduated from Rutgers University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental health and worked as a state health inspector for two years after college. He later worked for a national restaurant chain as a health inspector and management trainer. In 1984, he joined RID Pest Control, a business he owned for many years before selling it.
He defeated two-term Councilman Jeff Lischin 623-579 in 2019 and now is seeking his second term.
Utts had previously run for a council seat twice and for mayor once. He first ran for council in 2009 and again in 2013, but lost to former councilman Tim Carew and current mayor Erland Chau, respectively. He then took on Chau for the mayor’s seat in 2014, with Chau winning 57 percent of the vote to Utts’ 42 percent.
Carfagno, 48, and her husband, Len, have four children, all products of Northfield Community School and MRHS.
She is a teacher in Vineland, where she teaches civics and world history. Her husband operates SVN Plumbing and Heating.
Carfagno grew up in Washington Township, graduating from Bishop Eustace High School in 1992. She majored in political science at St. Thomas University in Miami, graduating in 1995. In 2016, she was part of an in-depth project on the Holocaust on an Alfred Lerner Fellowship and in 2017 completed her master’s degree in Holocaust studies at Stockton University. She holds a Genocide Prevention Certificate.
Carfagno and her husband, a native of Wildwood Crest, moved to Northfield in 2002. She is part of the Northfield Mothers League, MRHS football boosters and organized the annual Nick Connor Fishing Tournament at Birch Grove Park.
Leeds grew up in Egg Harbor Township and attended Oakcrest High School. He now owns a home on Debora Avenue.
He was appointed to City Council during the annual reorganization meeting in 2022 to take the place of Councilman Greg Dewees, who had won the at-large seat in the previous election.
President of the New Republican Party of Northfield, Leeds has been involved with emergency response since he was a teenager.
Leeds said he is retired from a federal intelligence agency and contracted to the federal government to perform sensitive investigative work. He said he signed a nondisclosure agreement and cannot name the agency nor say exactly what he does.
Leeds was appointed by resolution in September 2020 as the city’s deputy municipal emergency management coordinator.
Corona previously served on City Council, winning a seat in 1995. He unsuccessfully challenged Chau for mayor in 2019.
Corona, 60, and his wife, Mary, have three grown sons. He has lived in Northfield for 35 years and is a former chief of the Northfield Rescue Squad. He also served as a 911 dispatcher for the city, is a business owner and worked for 25 years in the insurance industry.
Corona graduated from Absegami High School and Prudential Capstone Insurance School, and is an account executive with Chris Ferry Insurance in Linwood.
Corona volunteered his time in the city, serving as a football coach, a Little League umpire and president of the former Northfield All Sports Association. He also worked with the Atlantic County Recovery Force.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff