The New Jersey Tide
Sandy Hook to Cape May, every day.
← New Jersey
PoliticsNew Jersey

Pemberton Township mayor charges at resident during council meeting, says he'd do it again

Mayor Matthew Bianchini said he snapped after a resident made an obscene gesture toward him. The council president apologized from the dais, and the resident has filed a complaint seeking criminal charges.

New Jersey
By The New Jersey Tide Staff · The New Jersey Tide · Oct. 23, 2026

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP — Mayor Matthew Bianchini ran at a resident during a Township Council meeting Wednesday night and had to be held back by others in the room, according to video of the meeting and an interview the mayor gave to WPVI-TV.

Ryan Elmore, a reporter for the Pine Barrens Tribune, recorded the confrontation with resident Michael Sawka. The video shows Bianchini being restrained and escorted out of the room, and as he left he shouted at Sawka that he was "getting" him.

The township's own recording of the meeting cuts off moments after the confrontation began. In its final seconds, a man in the audience can be heard demanding that police arrest the mayor and saying the mayor had threatened him.

When the recording resumed, Council President Harry Harper asked everyone involved in "this little altercation" to leave and said he would have police remove anyone who refused. He said the mayor would leave after the residents involved had gone. Harper also told Sawka that he had "jumped up" and gotten involved, and that "it's on video." He then asked officers to escort Sawka out.

Bianchini told WPVI on Thursday that he regretted the remark and had no intention of harming anyone. He defended charging at Sawka.

"I just basically snapped," the mayor said.

The outburst came while Kenny Gerber, the township's community development director, was asking the council to reverse Bianchini's decision to fire him. Bianchini and his family told the station that his wife and daughter were sitting in the back of the room when Sawka and another resident made rude remarks toward them. Video posted to the township's YouTube page shows Sawka waving a hand toward the family and then making an obscene gesture at the mayor. Bianchini then left his seat and ran toward him.

Bianchini said he would do the same thing again if his family were targeted, and that he believed most husbands and fathers would have too.

Sawka denied saying anything to the mayor's family. He told WPVI that the family started talking behind him and that he only waved his hand to get them to stop. He said he stayed seated and calm the whole time.

On Thursday, Sawka filed a complaint in municipal court seeking assault and terroristic threats charges against Bianchini. Police have not said whether they will pursue the charges. Bianchini has not been charged with a crime. Sawka said he wants the mayor to resign and leave politics for good.

Residents react

Several people who spoke later in the meeting brought up the confrontation.

Resident Alexander Costa called what happened shameful. "It shouldn't have happened," he said. "It's not right, it's not who we are as a community."

Another resident, who gave his name as Glenn, called it "completely unacceptable" and said the mayor should be removed from office. A third speaker called the mayor's behavior "horrific," said someone could have been seriously hurt and objected to the other residents being made to leave.

Marty Grafwanger, president of the BMIA, a local community group, said the episode undercut efforts to promote the township. "We have someone attack somebody else in here, like animals, and we have to look at this and we have to explain this to people," he said.

At the end of the meeting, a council member apologized for "the total disgrace embarrassment that our town suffered through." Harper apologized as well.

"We need to have more control here," Harper said. "People need to try to get along on both sides of the fence and stuff."

A firing and a feud

Gerber's hearing was the main business before the confrontation. His attorney, Mark Molls, told the council that Gerber had received an Oct. 7 letter announcing the township's intent to remove him and placing him on paid administrative leave. Molls said the notice did not follow the township's own personnel policy. He said Gerber had found problems with payments to a contracted inspector who had stopped doing inspections.

Gerber, who said he spent 34 years as a police officer, including as a chief, told the council he had repeatedly asked Bianchini to hear him out. "My highest authority, I am alleging, is doing something wrong," he said. "Mr. Bianchini, I begged you to talk to me." He said he had done nothing wrong and asked to be reinstated.

The township attorney said the mayor has authority to fire a department head and that the council could overturn the decision only by a unanimous 4-0 vote. The council voted 3-1 to reinstate Gerber, with Harper voting no.

Bianchini told WPVI that Sawka has harassed him and his family online and in person since he was appointed mayor earlier this year to fill the seat left by his predecessor's resignation. He said Sawka had gone after earlier mayors too. Sawka disputed that, saying his posts are meant to call attention to what he sees as wasteful township spending. He said members of the mayor's family have attacked him online.

The clash comes less than two weeks before the mayoral election. Early voting begins Saturday. Bianchini is on the ballot to keep the job; otherwise he will serve out his predecessor's term through the end of the year.

Information from WPVI-TV and the township's video recordings of the Oct. 21 meeting was used in this report.

Filed underPoliticsNew Jersey