After graduating from Raritan High School, Melanie later received a Bachelors in Biochemistry and Biology from Douglass College, Rutgers University in 1986. As an undergraduate she was consecutively named to the Dean's List while working as a paralegal during her college years. After college, Councilwoman Donohue worked as a laboratory technician at Cornell Medical Center/New York Hospital Biochemistry Department and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Pediatrics Genetics.

Subsequently, she worked in Lakewood as a chemist for a generic pharmaceutical company until the division folded, leading her to return to school in August 1991 at Rutgers Law School in Camden. Despite the challenges of a daily commute to Camden and balancing motherhood with a 16-month-old son and newborn daughter, Councilwoman Donohue once again consecutively made the Dean's List. While practicing law, she was chosen to vie in the Advanced Labor Law Moot Court competition and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for the highest grade in the class for First Year Moot Court, Business Organizations, and Products Liability.

After graduating with a Juris Doctor and becoming a member of the New Jersey Bar in 1994, she served as the law clerk for Appellate Court Judge James M. Havey. Working as an insurance defense attorney in Wall Township, she returned to Ocean County to begin practicing at the firm Gilmore and Monahan. She has since been a successful local government and public entity attorney, representing numerous local and state government entities, including South Jersey Transportation Authority, Atlantic City International Airport, Stafford Township, Little Egg Harbor and Lavallette Borough.

As the author of the Dover (now Toms River) Township Administrative Code upon the change in government in 2003, the councilwoman also wrote the Administrative Code for Jackson in 2005.

As a June 2002 New Jersey Municipal Law Diplomate, conferred by Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Local Governmental Attorneys, and a September 2005 Local Government Fellow, conferred by the International Municipal Lawyers Association, Councilwoman Donohue has extensive knowledge of municipal law matters. She is one of two Local Government Fellows in New Jersey, of which there are less than a 100 in the United States and Canada.

After her involvement in many local campaigns over several years, the councilwoman won the first time she ran in 2007, becoming the first woman elected as a Council Member-at-large in the new Mayor-Council form of government. Since entering office, she has drafted and was the proponent of the nepotism ordinance, which prohibits the hiring of relatives of the elected officials in Toms River, helping foster public trust in elected officials.

She has also spearheaded the rewriting of the General Legislation of the Township Code. This recodification was adopted at the end of December 2008, revamping inefficient and out-dated ordinances, as well as streamlining permit procedures and making the Clerk's office the central location for seeking a permit of any kind. Keeping recodification in-house and utilizing the councilwoman's extensive municipal law experience, instead of hiring special counsel, saved Toms River about $100,000.

Another important issue to the councilwoman has been the creation of a new township website. Toms River is currently in the process of completing a website overhaul, which will result in a user-friendly, up-to-date site residents will proud to call their own. A new website will help citizens take care of more of their township business without taking the trip to town hall and will be a ready resource for important information affecting the lives of our citizens.

Melanie is the proud mother of two children. Her son, Matthew, who was a 2008 Toms River East High School graduate, now attends the College of William and Mary. Her daughter, Jaclyn, is currently a sophomore at Toms River East. Melanie is married to Seaside Park Councilman, Randy Appleby.

If you would like to email Melanie you can do so at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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