VIDEO: Reorganization Address by Mayor Harris

The following is the text of Mayor Bruce Harris' address at the Chatham Borough Reorganization Meeting, held on Jan. 3, 2012.

Good Evening! First, I want to thank the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for leading us in the Salute, and Reverend [Shawn] Garvey [of ] for his thoughtful prayer.

Second, I want to recognize some special guests in tonight’s audience. ...

And, thirdly, on behalf of myself, Jim Lonergan and Gerald Helfrich (welcome, Gerald!), I want to thank the voters for showing their confidence in us and electing us this year.  We promise we will do our best for the greater good of . 

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The Reorganization Meeting is an annual event in which we combine business with celebration. At the Reorganization Meeting, we make all of the appointments and otherwise get set for a new year, and we also celebrate the spirit of volunteerism that is so essential to Chatham Borough by appointing numerous volunteers to the various boards, commissions and committees, and to the Fire Department. It cannot go without saying that, without these volunteers and the countless hours they are willing to devote to the community, Chatham Borough would not exist. Thanks to all of you!

This year we have the added pleasure of welcoming two new patrol officers,  Andrew [Pereira] and Wayne [Shivers]—who will be sworn in shortly—and a new Borough attorney, Jim Lott. 

We also are happy to introduce our new interns from Chatham High School— Anusha Sinha, Emily Lazration, Joseph Slamm and Stephanie Pasterna—who will be assisting me and the Council on various projects over the next months.

Welcome to the Chatham Borough “family”!

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We have much to look forward to in 2012. At our next Council meeting, we will talk more about our Goals and Objectives for 2012, but I thought I would share some of the highlights with you tonight.

We are fortunate to live in a community that has numerous events throughout the year that celebrate “community”, and I encourage you to participate in those events. In 2012 we will have the added pleasure of dedicating our renovated municipal pool and fields at Memorial Park.

A special thanks goes to the volunteers who have served on the pool advisory committees, for helping make this a reality. We will also, if things go as planned, and thanks to the efforts of the Public Arts Council, be able to welcome a new mural commemorating the history of Chatham Borough under the railroad bridge on Fairmount Avenue.

We will continue to face financial challenges in 2012. The Council’s Finance and Budget Committee has already started working on the budget for 2012 and, under the leadership of Jim Lonergan, will be examining new opportunities for shared services and other savings.

Under the leadership of Victoria Fife, the Council’s Shared Services Committee will focus on making sure that we are managing our various shared services effectively and achieving the savings we anticipated.

Jim Collander will continue to lead the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee and our Parking Task Force to implement solutions to our ongoing traffic problems and downtown and commuter parking issues.

Len Resto, our “Green Team Liaison”, will be working with the Environmental Commission, Green Initiatives Committee and restructured Open Space Committee to implement programs that will strengthen our efforts to be a sustainable community in actions as well as in words, to make our open space more accessible and improve trails, and identify opportunities for new open space projects.

John Holman will be focusing his efforts on examining our public works services and we look to Gerald Helfrich to, among other things, strengthen our relationship with the school district, identifying ways we can work together to maintain and improve services and reduce expenses.

We are not re-establishing the Council’s Communications Committee because the Communications Technology Advisory Committee has done such an outstanding job with our new web site and getting us started on the use of social media to improve communications with residents and eliminated the need for a Council Committee in this area.   

Once again I encourage you to sign up to receive notifications from our web site (just visit the web site to sign up) and to follow Chatham Borough on Twitter. We made effective use of both means of communication during Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm, and we will be using them even more if we have more storms (not that we want more weather challenges!)

Some of our committees, in particular the Green Initiatives and Pool Advisory committees, need more members in order to be able to accomplish their work.  I encouraged interested persons to complete the volunteer application form that’s available on the web site and at the clerk’s office.

There is much more on our plate for 2012, including working with local businesses to figure out how the Borough can help them get more business and on how the Borough can be “easier to do business with”, using technology to provide more administrative support to our boards, committees and commissions, evaluating the pros and cons of moving to a “club” structure with our recreation programs, and other projects that we’ll mention when we talk about our goals and objectives at the next meeting.

We have many challenges before us in 2012, but when I look at the people who sit on this dais, the many residents who have signed up to serve as volunteers, and the dedicated Borough employees we are fortunate to have, I am convinced that, working together as a team, we will achieve success.

I am reachable by phone at 973.635.0674 x 213. And, once the mayor’s cell phone is transferred to me, I will be reachable at 973.417.2964. My e-mail address is mayor@chathamborough.org.

In addition, my open office hours will be Saturdays from 11 AM to 2 PM and Wednesdays before Planning Board meetings from 6:45 to 7:30 PM.  I will also be available at other times by appointment, and, starting in February, will have early morning office hours.

Thank you.