Evesham mayor Randy Brown tries to make peace

Evesham Mayor Randy Brown invited three youth wrestlers who were being honored at a township council meeting Tuesday to demonstrate a pin - on him. Dressed in a suit and tie, Brown dropped to the floor, amid much laughter, and egged the wrestlers on.

Then, Brown swore in three police recruits and coaxed their families to come up to the dais to pose for group photographs with him. He swooped up a baby that a mother in the group was holding, and then joked with a grandmother about her family's difficult-to-pronounce Polish name.

"Ever since they brought the cameras in three or four months ago . . . I just stand up here and talk," Brown then said, taking a seemingly playful jab at residents who have been taping the meetings and posting the footage on YouTube.

Some of the clips have included heated arguments he has had with residents. Brown has said he opposes the taping because it "creates a circus atmosphere" and encourages discord.

This was just the first hour of a three-hour meeting that unfolded Tuesday night. A different side of the mayor was on display, including a surprise apology to an adversary.

Brown, in his eighth year as mayor of the South Jersey township of 46,000 people, captured attention in recent months when he refused to directly respond to residents at meetings. A pair of bizarre tiki figures that he places on the desk in front of him before the flag salute also have triggered curiosity and controversy.

A Republican, Brown has said he may run to succeed Gov. Christie in 2017. A part-time kicking consultant for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, Brown has also worked for ESPN Radio in Philadelphia and owns a title company.

At a December meeting, Brown lost his temper with residents who questioned him, a confrontation that showed up later on Facebook. Then, for nearly three months, he declined to directly respond to questioners at meetings. "It's public comment, not public question-and-answer" period, he said.

On March 17, Brown broke the silence without explanation. Residents were surprised. One thanked him. But just before that meeting ended, Brown stunned them when he said residents who had spoken up were cowards and political enemies.

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks," Brown said, turning to Joe Scialabbo, a resident who has criticized a development project that includes property Brown recently sold.

At the end of this week's meeting, Brown again shocked residents - with an apology. "I never once questioned if you loved your town," Brown said to Scialabbo, a longtime resident who as a youth football coach has been inducted into Marlton's Football Hall of Fame. "I apologize - as mayor I may not have been as receptive," he said.

Someone in the back of the room gasped.

Earlier, Scialabbo, who has been seeking redress for an array of issues, had asked why the mayor would not meet with him and wanted to know what procedure he needed to follow to get his concerns addressed. Brown directed the township manager to respond, and the manager asked Scialabbo to schedule a meeting with him.

When other residents approached to ask about flooding problems and the need for a sidewalk near housing for adults who are physically disabled, Brown expressed concern and asked the manager to set up meetings with the residents to discuss the problem.

When the residents thanked Brown for listening, he said: "Of course, of course."

During another portion of the meeting, he bemoaned the focus on the tiki figures, referring to them as "art pieces."

In closing remarks, Brown spoke of ending the tensions at the meetings.

He urged Scialabbo to stop posting negative comments on Facebook about him. "I don't want combative council meetings. . . . I don't post anything negative about you. That's my olive branch to you tonight," he said.

In an interview Wednesday, Scialabbo said he welcomed the mayor's olive branch.

After the "glass houses" remark last month, Scialabbo had asked Brown what he had meant by that and said he had done nothing to warrant such a comment. When Brown ignored him at the March 17 meeting, Scialabbo flipped him the finger.

But now their differences seemed to be behind them.

"Taking a hiatus from posting anything on this page," Scialabbo wrote Wednesday on his Facebook page, directing followers to other pages dedicated to Evesham news.

"I'm happy that that's the case," Brown said in an interview Thursday after hearing of Scialabbo's posting.

"I thought there were some inaccuracies he was posting, but Joe's a passionate person, and as you know, so am I, but his vision for the town is similar to mine, and I hope we can move forward and work together," Brown said.

Scialabbo said he was hopeful that the tone at the meetings would now be cordial, though he differed on what sparked the transformation. "I truly believe the camera in the back has changed things," Scialabbo said. "We wouldn't have gotten the quick response. It's amazing, the turnaround."