Wecker Wants a 'Beautiful, Affordable, Friendly' Chatham

Editor's note: Marcy Wecker was unavailable for a candidate video, but she did submit a statement written for the League of Women Voters for publication.

Name: Marcy Wecker
Party: Democrat
Years lived in town: 9
Family: Husband Doug Herbert, three children

My family and I moved from New York City to Chatham over 9 years ago. I have three children. Two are in the Chatham’s schools, and the third graduated from Chatham High School last year and is in his first year in college. All my children have participated in the Chatham’s recreational sports, including football, baseball, soccer and softball. Keeping our Recreation Department strong, innovative and safe for our children will be a goal of mine if I’m elected.

I studied at Columbia University where I earned my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. Then, I attended Seton Hall University School of Law where I received my J.D. and am licensed to practice law in New Jersey and New York. Before and during college, I managed the landmark restaurant, Ye Waverly Inn, in Greenwich Village. After law school, I worked as an attorney for a union in New York City. Over the last year, I have returned to work as an attorney.

I want to use my legal, business and personal experience as a mother of three children in Chatham to make Chatham a place where all generations will want to live, the young, the working, families and our seniors. We can do this by continuing to look for ways like shared services to save our community money and keep our taxes low.

Since I have been in Chatham, I have contributed to making our community a better place to live for all us. I was the chairperson of Chatham’s Land Conservancy Committee for two years where I worked diligently to help preserve and expand Chatham’s open spaces and make what open space is available more accessible and useable. It was my Committee that approved the funding of study to determine which of our open spaces could be used by our citizens and at what cost. In addition, my committee and I updated Chatham’s Open Space and Recreation Plan, which saved our town over $13,000 in taxpayer money.

Also, while I was chair, Land Conservancy created and built Chatham’s Community Garden and its subsequent expansion. Under my leadership, with hundreds hours and numerous volunteers, I oversaw the planning, design, construction, expansion and now the operation of our Community Garden. In my role, I dealt with JCP&L, PSE&G, Madison, private contractors and landscapers to get approvals, a lease, construction materials, equipment and labor to build the garden. As a member of the Council, I will use this experience to get things done for Chatham and for doing what is right to make our town a better place to live for all generations.

I was also a member of Chatham’s Memorial Park and Pool Committee which did the community survey and redesign of the park which is now under construction.

As a Council member, I want to ensure that Chatham remains a beautiful, affordable and friendly town to live in and raise a family. I will work to make sure that our taxpayers’ dollars are being spent as efficiently as possible. I believe that challenging economic times require finding ways to keep municipal taxes as low as possible; families, working people and seniors face enough hurdles without another one being added.

I believe that I could bring a fresh and responsive attitude to the Council. In completing the hard work of founding our Community Garden, I realized that things get done best when we bring people from all across our community together. Although I respect all of our elected officials, of the six councilmembers only one is a woman. I believe my experiences as a mother and as a professional woman living in Chatham could bring another fresh insight to the Council to help keep our community a great place to live for everyone, the young, old and all those in between.