For the first time in three years, residents, elected officials, friends, and family members gathered in person for the reorganizational meeting of Livingston’s Township Council. We were heartened to see a standing room only crowd of hundreds fill the Senior/Community Center for the event, during which the township’s government and committees were established for the year.
It cannot be overstated how wonderful it is to see that so many residents have volunteered to help make this town exceptional. The dozens of committees included the Arts Council, the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, various parade and event planning groups, and so much more. It’s that willingness to contribute to this community that makes Livingston so special, and that was evident this past Monday.
We also welcomed a new Council member, Rosy Bagolie, and we wish her well in her new position. To add a new member meant we said goodbye to another, Rudy Fernandez, who retired after 14 years of dedicated service to the Township. He will be missed on the dais, particularly for his institutional knowledge, steady demeanor, and trademark white mustache. Bagolie has big shoes to fill and we look forward to seeing her grow in the role.
As is the case each year, two of the five Council members were selected as deputy mayor and mayor. Al Anthony will serve as deputy mayor in 2023, his third time in the role. Michael Vieira was tapped as mayor for the first time. While the mayor’s vote counts the same as every other member of the Council due to Livingston’s “weak mayor” style of government and annual rotation at the position, it still very much matters who leads our town, as they are the face of Livingston for the coming year. We wish Vieira good luck in the role and hope he represents this community well.
As we embark on a new year, there is much to look forward to in town. In addition to the continuation of longtime traditions such as the Memorial Day Parade and the Fourth of July fireworks, we also eagerly anticipate the progress and conclusion of some business matters that have been topics of discussion in recent years. Some of the goals listed by Council members during the reorganizational meeting included working in tandem with the school district, finally opening the new Department of Public Works building, consolidating and refurbishing the township pools, utilizing our Open Space land, and permitting some or all classes of cannabis business.
We are long overdue on building the new Department of Public Works facility. The current building has been in disarray for years and is undersized. In 2021, this led to issues during a snow storm that forced schools to close for a day, as we did not have space to house an adequate salt supply. Land on Industrial Parkway was selected as the location of the new DPW facility years ago. Although we understand that COVID-19, the cost of materials, and supply chain issues have delayed construction, the fact of the matter remains that yet another year has passed without a new building. We sincerely hope to see a groundbreaking very soon.
We also hope to see a move forward with a definitive plan for the pools. We have been told that having two township pools is likely no longer financially tenable, so we would like to see a plan focused on renovating one of our existing pools, to create a comprehensive, outstanding facility.
Livingston has, additionally, years ago at this point, purchased roughly 20 acres of Open Space land of Strahman and Licari properties. We hope to see them open for public use this year, either as a camp, a park, or something else residents can utilize.
An update on cannabis classes has seemingly been on the horizon for months, if not all of last year, but keeps getting pushed back. This should be re-assessed in the coming months.
Each of these items was also mentioned at the start of 2022, so we sincerely hope this is the year that we see substantial progress on all of them.
There is much to accomplish in 2023, as there is every year. We haven’t even touched on goals for the Board of Education (which is also welcoming a new member in Parul Khemka and saying goodbye to longtime member Sam Messer), Planning Board (whose previous chairman, Peter Klein is leaving that position for a regular board seat after 22 years in charge and replaced by Fernandez), and Zoning Board. But this is a nice place to start, and Livingston will be in good shape if we can check all of these items off by the time we ring in 2024.
