New Trustees Join South Orange Government

Sheena Collum, Stephen Schnall and Walter Clarke were sworn in to four-year terms as trustees on Monday night at Village Hall. Before a large and enthusiastic crowd, the three winning took the oath of office, adminstered by Village President Alex Torpey, and were seated on the dais.  Maplewood's Jerry Ryan, South Orange Police Chief James Chelel, South Orange Fire Chief Jeff Markey, and former Village President Douglas Newman were in attendance. 

Collum, Schnall and Clarke took the vote last Tuesday after several weeks of active campaigning. They replace Janine Bauer, Michael Goldberg, and Nancy Gould, who announced earlier this year that they would not seek re-election. The three outgoing trustees were honored with proclamations at Monday's meeting. 

"We are excited and humbled by the voters' faith in us," said Collum when she was elected. "We ran a practical, not a populist, campaign. We recognize South Orange's challenges -- it's not perfect -- but neither is it awful. We will address not only the next four years and look for success, but plan so residents 20 years from now will look back at 2013. We hope to serve the present and future residents of South Orange."

"It's quite a relief and an honor," said Clarke. "I'm looking forward to doing the work." He continued, "We worked to run a positive campaign about the future of South Orange, not about the negative aspects."

Schnall said he was humbled and thrilled. "After all the hard work of the last two months, we were voted in by the community and given the opportunity to perform on their behalf, to make the town even better than it already is."

Village President Alex Torpey said, "I'd like to thank and tip my hat to everyone who ran. I am particularly excited to get to work with Sheena Collum, Steve Schnall and Walter Clarke, I know them as amazing volunteers and people, and can't wait to get to work!"

"I'm excited to work with a team that brings positive energy and no negativity to the table," said Trustee Deborah Davis Ford. "In the next two years, South Orange will continue to become a model community, one that others will want to emulate."

Sandow congratulated the South Orange first candidates for "a well-run and successful campaign."

The 2013 campaign saw a total of seven candidates running as two slates, and an independent candidate.

The slates were: "Village First": 

and "South Orange 2013",  

Running independently was Robert Sandow.

May 29 will see an additional Board of Trustees meeting, when the budget will be introduced.