Montclair Councilor Sean Spiller and Montclair Councilwoman Renee Baskerville will vie for the

mayoralty of the Essex County town this year.

The pair’s respective announcements last night to fellow Democrats came on the heels of news that incumbent Mayor Robert Jackson will not pursue reelection.

Nonpartisan elections in Montclair are scheduled for May 12th.

“I’m definitely running again unless I decide not to,” Jackson told Baristanet last October.

He’s not running, as it turns out.

A pediatric and adolescent primary care physician and a school physician and health educator who has served the residents of Essex County for more than three decades, Baskerville has served as Fourth Ward Councilor for the past four years and was member of the Montclair School Board.

According to the town’s website, “Dr. Baskerville is a fourth generation Essex County resident and a product of the Montclair Public School System, St. Paul’s Baptist Church, Grass Roots and YWCA families. She received her BS from Oberlin College and her Medical Degree from the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. She has provided pro bono and reduced-fee medical services to indigent and homeless families and HIV/AIDs babies in Montclair, East Orange, Irvington, Newark, and Orange.

“Dr. Baskerville’s service as a health provider and healer began as a Pediatric Resident at UMDNJ- United Presbyterian Children’s Hospital. She expanded her service to the East Orange area in 1993 when the company for which she was working, Newark Community Health Centers, opened a satellite to serve the Oranges. Following her tenure in the East Orange satellite office, she served as Director of Pediatrics at the Newark Multi- Medical Plaza Comprehensive Care health facility, the Newark Mini-Surgi Site, and later as a private practitioner. She established a community-based center for “at risk” teens in Newark and participated in the development and health care provision for several school-based health facilities to expand access to quality, affordable health care.”

Vice President of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Spiller was elected to serve the residents of Montclair in May of 2012.

The Third Ward Councilor currently serves on the township’s Economic Development Committee, the Education Committee, and the Board of School Estimate, and is a sitting member of the Montclair Business Improvement District. A member of the Montclair NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and many other local groups and organizations and educator for 15 years, Spiller is currently a high school science teacher in Wayne.