MORRIS COUNTY – The Board of Chosen Freeholders held their annual reorganization meeting on Friday, January 5.
Incoming Freeholder Heather Darling took the oath of office for a three year term. (Click here to read related article). Darling replaced Freeholder Hank Lyon who did not seek re-election to the county governing board.
Douglas R. Cabana was elected Freeholder Director and Christine Myers was elected Deputy Freeholder Director for the new year.
Other members of the Freeholder Board include Thomas J. Mastrangelo, John Cesaro, Kathryn A. DeFillippo and Deborah Smith.
Father John Theodosion, Presiding Priest of St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church in Randolph, gave the invocation, while the Morris County Law Enforcement and Boonton Township Fire Department color guards also participated in the event.
Among the many officials in attendance were Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, Congressman Leonard Lance, Morris County Sheriff Jim Gannon, Senator Anthony Bucco, Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, newly elected State Senator Kristin Corrado and her running mate Assemblyman-elect Chris DePhillips, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, Morris County Young Republican Secretary Joseph Bock, Esq., Former Parsippany-Troy Hills Council Vice President Robert Peluso, Former Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor James Barberio, Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Chief Paul Philipps, Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Captain Andrew Miller, Former Freeholder John Inglesino, Former Freeholder and Current Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler, Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi; Morris County Republican Chairwoman Patti Page and MCRC Finance Chair Ron DeFilippis.
Douglas R. “Doug” Cabana is the longest serving member of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, having joined the board in April 1997.
He is a former freeholder director who was elected by his colleagues to that post in 2000, 2001, and again in 2017. He served as deputy director in 1998, 1999, 2011 and 2012.
A past president of the New Jersey Association of Counties, it was under his leadership in 2006 that the association became an initial driving force behind the now popular concept of “shared services.” Cabana will continue in 2018 as Morris County’s representative to that statewide association, a role he has held since 1999.
Cabana was mayor of Boonton Township for six years and a member of the township’s governing body for eleven years. He is a member of the 200 Club of Morris County and a former president of the Morris County League of Municipalities.
Freeholder Cabana is an attorney who received his law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. He also has a degree in business management from Ithaca College.
Christine Myers began her first term on the board of freeholders on January 3, 2016. The Mendham Township resident has a long history in corporate and private business, and has been active for many years in community affairs in Morris County
Myers launched a specialty food business in 2013 after a 25-year career as a technology and telecommunications executive and consultant. At AT&T, Myers was responsible for managing the technology and communications needs of all 1996 presidential elections, the Republican National Convention, and hundreds of federal, state and municipal campaigns.
She also led the team that won multi-million dollar communication contracts for the Executive Office of the President and White House Communications Agency. Later, as Vice President, Alliances and Business Development at Siemens, she negotiated global technology, strategic alliance and joint venture agreements.
Myers served until June of 2016 as President of the Board of Cornerstone Family Programs and the Morristown Neighborhood House. She also was a board member of Turn the Towns Teal, an ovarian cancer awareness initiative; Madison Daycare, and the Pastoral Advisory Board of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham.
In December, The Trump administration Myers regional advocate for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
She will be able to complete her term through the end of 2018. She can’t run again while working as one of ten regional advocates for the SBA.
Myers expects to work in New York City when she isn’t traveling for the job. She said she intends to complete work she started last year as head of a freeholder committee developing a strategic master plan for the county’s future.
She and her husband own a small business called Madison Park Foods that formulates spices. Myers said her husband will run the business solo.
She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary.
Christine is married and lives in Mendham with her husband Stan Gorski and their sons, Tom and Stan.
The Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders will meet again on Wednesday, January 10 at 7:00 p.m. All regular meetings at which formal action may be taken will take place at the Board of Chosen Freeholders’ Meeting Room, Fifth Floor, Administration and Records Building, Court Street, Morristown.
