Courier-Post Thursday, January 8, 1998 Gibbsboro council members walk out by Mike Franolich Courier-Post Staff   Gibbsboro - Government broke down at the annual reorganization meeting Wednesday, highlighted by a minority member walkout. Independent Councilmen Michael MacFerren and Ronald Samuel and independent Mayor Edward G. Campbell III shocked the audience of about 50 people when they left the room with the Republican majority still seated. Campbell said that since they had completed their work on the agenda, the meeting was automatically over. Some in the partisan crowd jeered them. "you call yourself the mayor and you're walking away from the government," yelled one member of the audience. Though the independents left, the new 3-2 GOP majority - which took control for the first time in almost 20 years - continued with its own agenda. The meeting had never been closed by a council vote, said GOP Councilwoman Gail Peterson, who became council president for the year. Peterson and GOP council members Beth Egan and Joseph Fallon Jr. then adopted four resolutions, including a request for the state to conduct a performance audit of municipal finances. At the end of the night, the government still had failed to make many of its usual appointments, including those of engineer, solicitor and affirmative action officer. Appointees from 1997 whose appointments have expired can continue for up to 30 days or until new appointments are made, officials agreed. At the heart of the friction was the absence of the council's sixth member. A judge recently ruled in the GOP's favor that the seat remain vacant until a special run-off election is held on Feb. 9. Before leaving, Campbell had declared, "I don't agree with the judge's decision, but I will respect it." But without former councilman Lewis Williams, an independent, Campbell's group lost control to the GOP Wednesday. The special election was scheduled after GOP council candidate Jan Berle won the council seat by a single vote in November. But Williams challenged several votes. When a judge invalidated one vote, the election was declared a draw. At the onset of the meeting, Campbell did not recognize the GOP's new majority. He said he was exercising his mayoral right by excluding from the agenda some measures the GOP asked to be included. Williams said the GOP was attempting to oust many appointees who had served the borough well for more than a decade. Peterson said the GOP was making cost and performance choices.