Meet Susan McCartney: West Orange Township Council Candidate
WEST ORANGE, NJ — Meet Susan McCartney, a candidate running for re-election to West Orange Township Council on Nov. 6.
A member of the Township Council since 2002 who is running for re-election, McCartney is a longtime resident of the township who has been a homeowner in the community since 1981. She and her husband, Joe, have three children and five grandchildren. The founder, owner and director of First Mountain Preschool (est. 1997), McCartney is a Seton Hall University graduate with an M.A. from Kean University who has been an adjunct professor at both Kean and Montclair State University.
Q: How many years have you lived in West Orange?
A: I spent my high school years with my warm & loving family on Hazel Avenue, right next door to my grandparents. In 1981, my husband Joe and I bought our first and only house here in West Orange where we have raised three wonderful children, all educated in the West Orange Public School System, and now enjoy five beautiful grandchildren!
When my graduate research on education and administration was published, we again invested in West Orange in 1997 to establish First Mountain Preschool at 270 Pleasant Valley Way, the former NJ School of Ballet building purchased by the Ohr Torah Congregation.
Q: Why are you running for Township Council?
A: I am and have been honored to serve as a member of the Township Council, in doing so, I have tried to be a voice-of-reason. Political promises are often made, but mine are carried out. I knew early on how important it is to find ways to stabilize our taxes. During each of my terms on the Township Council, I strive to control municipal spending. During the past ten years, despite the economic downturn in 2008, West Orange has had the lowest municipal tax increase of any municipality in Essex County.
Q: Why do you feel you deserve the job, and how do you feel about property taxes?
A: Besides scrutinizing the municipal budget, as the liaison to the West Orange Environmental Commission, I was appointed the Township’s Sustainable Jersey Coordinator in 2007. With 63 percent of the municipal budget for personnel costs and 24 percent allotted for fixed costs; I have been able to focus on grants that offset capital and operating budget expenses. I am able to work directly with each Township Department Head to focus on initiating or help implement energy efficient municipal upgrades, ordinances and grant applications that have a direct impact on protecting the environment and conserve tax dollars. All of our mandatory recycling ordinances work to reduce the amount the Township is charged per ton for hauling our trash.
I presented the NJ Clean Energy Direct Install Program for the Township to participate in energy efficient improvements in municipal facilities, the fire houses and Police Headquarters. The program offers 70 percent towards the total cost of improvements with the municipality responsible for the remaining 30 percent. The payback period is approximately 2.2 years. The township stands poised to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in facility upgrades and long-term energy savings.
I am presently exploring new end markets such as Foam Cycle to recycle Foam (i.e. Styrofoam) and a town-wide composting program since most household waste is 50 percent compostable. Again, working to reduce the cost of hauling town-wide trash. Also, I am working out details to launch Recycle Coach on the Township’s webpage, to help residents stay up-to-date on all recycling trends and Township regulations.
The township will continue to accrue Sustainable Jersey points toward recertification with resolutions I recently introduced to expand the municipality’s infrastructure for the use of electric vehicles and support pending legislation to further the goals declared in the NJ Clean Car Standards. I will continue to support other ‘green’ initiatives such as the Township’s Energy Aggregation Plan that realized a $2.1 million dollar savings within its 21 month contract.
Q: Other issues?
A: The more I hear about creating a Senior Advisory Board, the more I learn just how much the Township already has in place in the way of Senior Services to help our older adults age in place and, of course, weighing personal finances will determine the advantages and disadvantages in recognizing individual needs. The cost of aging in place is a very important factor, however, studies show the most important factor in aging well is having social interactions and connections. With a full-time Health Director and a full-time Social Worker/Senior Coordinator, the Township provides exercise programs, group trips out-of-town, to the town pool, events, holiday parties and picnics. The Recreation Department and the West Orange Public Library provide educational programs that relate to art, music, discussions on history & travel and timely topics. The Township recently created, what is becoming, a very popular Senior Gardening Program at the Toby Katz Center.
Six jitney shuttles transport commuters early morning and evening, then provide daily curb-to-curb senior transportation to medical appointments, food shopping, Livingston Mall, Senior Club meetings and the Ginny Duenkel Town Pool.
The Health Department maintains a long-standing grant with the Essex County Division of Senior and Disabled Services for Visiting Nurse Services for mainly homebound and frail seniors. This Register Ready data base of residents who are homebound or on dialysis allows the town’s registered nurses to make periodic home visits. The Health Department shares this information with the Department of Public Works for priority snow plowing, particularly for the residents on dialysis.
To facilitate educational outreach services for seniors, I subscribed the township to the NJ Foundation on Aging for residents to view video-taped programming on important, relevant topics on our local access channels.
Senior Services Resources are listed on the town’s homepage at www.westorange.org along with a Transportation Guide and the Essex, Hudson & Union Counties Senior Blue Book.
The township has been providing Senior Services for decades and is considered a model by the State. If a need or concern is raised, it is a phone call away from being resolved.
Q: Apart from running for office, in what other ways are you involved in the town?
A: Community Involvement:
West Orange Town Council member 2002 – present
West Orange Planning Board Town Council liaison
West Orange Environmental Commission Town Council Liaison
www.westorange.org
West Orange Sustainable Jersey Coordinator www.SustainableJersey.com
West Orange Chamber of Commerce member since 1997 www.westorangechamber.com;
www.DowntownWO.com
Created the Chamber Spotlight, an opportunity for businesses to produce a two minute info-mercial on local access channels TV36/FiOS45
Created the Chamber Social Networking Committee
West Orange Arts Council Town Council Liaison
www.woarts.org; www.valleyartsnj.com; www.LunaStage.org
West Orange Board of Education Town Council Liaison
WOHS Sustainable Engineering & Technology Dept. www.LiterofLightUSA.org
Friends of Thomas Edison National Historical Park Board of Trustees www.FoEdison.org
Chair Glenmont Spring-Tune-up; Chair Muckers’ Ball
West Orange Police Department: Operation Hope Volunteer
West Orange Parents Advocating for Special Services in Education
Featured in: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/west-orange/articles/west-orange-named- new-jerseys-nicest-town-by-r : https://youtube/owlxymm71as
Q: What can you tell us about your career?
A: When I first moved to town over 30 years ago, professionally, I was a Training Manager at NJ Bell (Verizon) while attaining a Master’s Degree in Administration and Education. When my graduate thesis was published by HarperCollins, I became an adjunct professor at Montclair State University and Seton Hall University. With confidence and these rewarding credentials, I decided to lease space to renovate and establish First Mountain Preschool in a vacant building purchased by Ohr Torah Congregation on Pleasant Valley Way. This fateful decision-making process introduced me to navigating Municipal Land Use laws and the Township Planning Department. I was determined to help other business and property owners navigate the system. When first elected to the West Orange Town Council, I immediately served on the Planning Board’s Technical Review Committee with the sole purpose of providing helpful Planning information to all new business and property owners and as a West Orange Chamber of Commerce member since 1997, serving on the Chamber Board of Directors I continue to recruit, promote and strengthen our business community.
Q: What should people know?
A: My community involvement started 30 years ago on the corner of Gilbert Place and Club Boulevard in the playground adjacent to Roosevelt Middle School. Strewn broken glass, dilapidated playground equipment and a tired fence serving no purpose introduced me to the Police Department’s Broken Window Theory, to recognize the urgent need to renovate a space to restore public safety and pride in the neighborhood. Assembling a group of parents, we met with the Department of Recreation Director to discuss public safety concerns. Improvement and upgrades were successfully achieved and this community activism formulated a coalition of neighbors, now life-long friends, before we even knew the importance of a Neighborhood Community Watch Group. Those early years involved all three of my children attending West Orange Public Schools, for me, I enthusiastically got involved with the Gregory PTA, Coached the MTL running team, supported Parents Advocating for Students in Special Education and served as a Catechist at St. Joseph’s Sunday School Program for 24 years!
I am seeking your re-election to use my leadership experience, creative energy and resourcefulness to preserve our safe, characteristically beautiful, sustainable and prosperous community