MORRIS COUNTY — Freeholders Doug Cabana of Boonton Township, Kathy DeFillippo of Roxbury, and Tom Mastrangelo of Montville were sworn in to new three-year terms on the county governing board on Friday January 7, with oaths of office administered by New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno at the freeholders’ annual reorganization meeting in Morristown.
Freeholder Cabana was elected by his peers as the new Freeholder Director while Freeholder John Cesaro of Parsippany will serve as Deputy Director.
Also, new Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon took his oath – twice. Gannon, a 55-year-old widower who waged his first political campaign to win the Republican nomination in June for sheriff and the general election in November to succeed retired, 24-year Sheriff Edward V. Rochford as the county’s 77th sheriff. Gannon, who is a retired deputy chief of investigations for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, will be paid $140,364 annually and has frozen his $78,000 annual law enforcement pension so it will not be collected during his three-year term. Gannon also was a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and was head of global security risk for the pharmaceutical conglomerate Novartis.
The first was at a ceremony in the historic Morris County Courthouse and was administered by Morris-Sussex Counties Superior Court Assignment Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz and attended by a host of political dignitaries, including former Gov. and State Sen. Richard Cody.
Lt. Gov. Guadagno did the ceremonial honors for Gannon a second time at the freeholders’ annual meeting.
Other members of the 2016 Morris County Board of Freeholders include Hank Lyon of Parsippany, Christine Myers of Mendham, and Deborah Smith of Denville.
“We are all elected to office because of a truest placed in us by those who elect us. A trust to make the right decisions, a trust to keep our promises,’’ said Freeholder Director Cabana.
“My goals and those of my fellow Freeholders in 2017 are to make the right decisions to benefit all residents of Morris County, to keep close watch on spending in while delivering critical public safety and quality of life services for our residents.’’
- Preserve the county’s top-ranked Triple A bond rating, and maintain the county’s prudent and responsible financing and budgeting;
- Provide and seek out shared services agreements with our municipalities, independent agencies and authorities, and neighboring counties to make more effective use of taxpayers’ dollars through more efficient government;
- Carefully and professionally market the Request for Proposals process in selecting a qualified and responsible provider for future services at the county’s Morris View Healthcare Center, with patient care as the top priority;
- Make maintaining and improving the county’s roads infrastructure a continuing priority in 2017, with some 30 miles of roads targeted for work;
- Thoroughly monitor and respond to the costly demands of the state’s new bail reform act and its speedy trial requirements. The county will work closely with the New Jersey Association of Counties to ensure that the state pays as much of these costs as possible.
Cabana announced the roll-out of the county’s new EMS Service. It will offer much needed assistance to municipalities in providing basic emergency response, especially during daytime hours when many of our towns do not have enough volunteers or resources to handle emergency medical situations.
In 2017, the freeholder public work sessions will be held at 9:30 a.m. and the regular public meetings will start at 7:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. A list of meeting dates can be found on the county government calendar by clicking here.
Freeholder Hank Lyon of Parsippany is up for re-election this year and Democrat Rozella Clyde of Chatham, part of a team that was defeated in the November election by the incumbents, has already launched her campaign for 2017.
Parsippany Focus asked Nick, “Parsippany will be hiring a new Superintendent. What qualities will you look for in the new super? What would you do different this search?” He said “I want a high performer with a passion for our children’s education. Someone who has a proven track record of increasing scores while maintaining a diverse and inclusive learning environment. Last search was conducted by a search firm who may or may not have had our best interest at heart. I feel the search needs to be organic, with input from teachers and parents. Teams of all of the stake holders should have input on the hiring criteria. Once established, we should use these criteria to target high caliber candidates. With the superintendent salary cap, there highly qualified candidates who have their growth and earning potential limited by the size of their district. Parsippany is a large high performing district without many of the issues which plague some of the more urban schools. This would be an ideal landing spot for the right candidate.”
