Politics & Government

Holman Looks to Increase Public's Involvement in Borough Government

Incoming councilman says he wants lots of public input on the decisions he and his colleagues make.

If you live in the borough, incoming councilman John Holman hopes you'll soon be receiving a survey, asking you whether the municipal pool in Memorial Park needs to be rebuilt.

He also wants to ask you whether you want the borough to revamp its recycling programs. He'd like to hear your opinion on whether the borough should share its trucks with other municipalities, and for that matter, he wants to know if you think the town should share services at all.

"One of the things I worked hard on to get the current council to do, which I want to keep going [while] going forward, is getting the public more involved in the decisions being made at council meetings," Holman said.

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Holman and fellow incoming councilman Len Resto, who will both be sworn in for a three-year at the borough's reorganizational meeting tonight at 7:30pm at Borough Hall, have been sitting in on closed, executive council sessions in the months leading up to the meeting.

As such, they have been briefed on private borough matters, and Holman says that has helped him learn more about the borough's needs.

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"It's going very well," Holman said of the work the council has so far done together. "I think we all work well together. I've known most of the guys for a good amount of time."

Councilman Joseph Marts sold Holman his first house on Coleman Avenue, and he has been neighbors with fellow Councilmen James Lonergan and James Collander in the past.

He said one of his goals is to help expedite the decisions the council makes. Some of its business, he said, takes much longer to complete than it should. He cited a decision to create a pool committee as one such example.

The decision to create the committee took nine months when in reality, he said, it should have taken no longer than two weeks.

"There should be disagreements on council but there shouldn't be disagreements where nothing gets done," Holman said.

To Holman, if the public is more involved in the decision-making process, the process goes along more smoothly. That is why he plans to push the council to approve sending a questionnaire to each borough resident asking them how they feel about a variety of issues.

His agenda on council, he said, will largely be determined by the responses the council gets from the surveys.

Holman grew up in Greenwich, CT, before moving to Memphis, Tenn., during his childhood. He attended the University of Tennessee, and when he came to New Jersey in 1994, he loved Chatham so much that he decided to settle here.

"It's what we call a stroller community—they're pre-war houses, but everything's here," Holman said. "Young families are coming in. This is still a desirable area."

Holman said he will likely be on the farmer's market committee and the Board of Health. He could also potentially be a part of other committees.

Councilmen Joseph Mikulewicz and Neal Collins will be out of office once Holman and Resto are sworn in.


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