Citing personal reasons, Mayor Samson Steinman has taken a temporary leave of absence from his job as chief executive of the gritty Union County river town.

Steinman cracked up at least one city vehicle and a source with knowledge of the mayor’s thinking right now says he  wants to get better before he goes forward.

The city has had a troubled recent political history.

Former Mayor Rick Proctor resigned in 2013 amid reports of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission preparing to lower the ax with $70,000-worth of fines for for violations of campaign finance reporting laws.

Steinman was serving as council president at the time and stepped in for the dispatched Proctor.

Prior to Proctor, the city enjoyed a boost with the two decade reign of Mayor Jim Kennedy.

Kennedy shocked supporters when he opted out of running for reelection in 2010, then dropped out of politics for five years.

In 2015, Kennedy returned to elected office when he received the nod of the Union County Democratic Committee to replace disgraced Assemblywoman Linda Stender as an LD22 legislator.

Now there’s talk that Kennedy could be summoned back to City Hall to stabilize the situation if Steinman doesn’t get straight, a source told InsiderNJ.