Borough Councilman Marts Will Not Seek Re-election This Year

Councilman Joseph Marts, a former mayor who has served on the Borough Council for the last three years, will not seek re-election in the fall.

Marts was mayor from 1976 to 1979 and, most recently, has been a councilman since 2008. But he said he wants to have more time to visit his family—his children live in Ossining, N.Y. and in New Hampshire—and does not want to feel as if he needs to always be running back down to Chatham for a meeting.

When he has a responsibility to go to meetings, he said, he does not like to miss them. So he will not seek a second three-year term.

Marts is the only independent on the council.

"I just want to put us in a position where we're more flexible," Marts said.

Even after Marts was done being mayor, he was still a community fixture. He has been a volunteer firefighter with the Borough Fire Department for 50 years.

When he decided to run again, he said, his wife made him wait about 48 hours before he made his final decision to do so. But now, he said, his time constraints have given him the conviction that he does not want to run again.

"I'm not going away because I'm just going to go back on the other side of the railing where I always was," Marts said. "Don't think that Marts is disappearing, because it's not going to happen.

"I think things need to be done right and done in an open fashion," he said.

If that's the case, residents can still expect Marts to come to meetings, camera in hand, taking photos to preserve memories from notable moments at council gatherings. He has been taking photos at the scenes of fires for the vast majority of the time he has been on the fire department.

His appreciation for Chatham, in essence, is always shining through.

"I love this town," he said.