By Kayla J. Marsh
Staff Writer
RUMSON – For nearly 40 years, John E. Ekdahl has been an integral member of the borough and its community.
Since the late 1970’s, he has served the community in a number of capacities and has been dedicated to the needs of the borough and its residents.
For his dedication and commitment to the Rumson community for the past several decades, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities recently inducted Ekdahl into the Elected Officials Hall of Fame.
Ekdahl said he found out about the honor at a recent Borough Council meeting.
“It certainly means an awful lot to me,” he said “It was quite a surprise when the award was given to me at the council meeting. I was not aware or expecting it, but am so appreciative.”
The Elected Officials Hall of Fame recognizes those local municipal governing body members who, as of December 2015, have served for more than 20 years in elected municipal office, guiding their communities through both good and difficult times.
Ekdahl has served Rumson for nearly 40 years, beginning his service on the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment in 1978, which he chaired from 1991 to 1995.
“I grew up in Rumson and I admired the way the town was run, and when I was first asked if I wanted to come on the Zoning Board, I felt as if I should probably give something back to the town and try and continue to help the way the town looks and feels,” he said.
“Of course back then when I started, I had no idea I was embarking on 40 years of public service, but it just evolved and with surrounding myself with good people and good staff it has made the journey easier and time seems to have gone by very quickly.”
Ekdahl was elected to the Borough Council in November 1996 and was appointed mayor in 2004 when then-Mayor Charles S. Callman stepped down. Ekdahl has since been re-elected three times.
“I don’t think you can have longevity without a lot of help and I’ve been very blessed with a very strong Borough Council over the years,” he said. “All of the council members pitch in and take a role in helping run the town and I’ve also been blessed with good employees in town … We have a terrific staff, which makes my job as mayor much easier.”
So what has been the secret to Ekdahl’s success?
“Really the secret has been to have good people and people who really care about Rumson,” he said. “Many of [the staff] still live here, a lot of them went through the school systems here, so almost all of the employees in town have some connection with Rumson and its been my great experience to serve with people who really care about the town and the way it is run.”
One highlight from his career that Ekdahl pointed out comes from his time spent on the Zoning Board.
“I’m proud of the fact that the town … the overall look and feel of the town is very similar to what it was 40 years ago,” he said. “That is certainly an accomplishment that you only notice standing back and looking at the town as a whole.”
Another highlight Ekdahl mentioned has to do with the borough’s municipal building.
“I think the decision to build a new Borough Hall and to have that project come in on time and on budget and looking very much like the old Borough Hall that we eventually tore down, was a great accomplishment,” he said. “It’ll stand for decades and we’re very happy with how the project turned out and don’t think there’s anything that we would do differently.
“It was well planned, well thought out and we have a very livable, functional Borough Hall that we always get compliments on.”
One event that Ekdahl said really stands out is the town’s recovery from superstorm Sandy.
“It was certainly the biggest, natural event to hit Rumson in probably a century and we’re still to some degree recovering,” he said. “We still have some homes that are being lifted out of the flood zones, but it was a tremendous effort [and] required great cooperation among all of our departments … but I think the community did come together in the end and everybody really pitched in and while it was a long effort to pick the pieces up and put everything back together, I think it did bring everybody closer together.”
With his current term ending in December 2019, Ekdahl said the governing body would continue to strive to do what is best for the borough and its residents.
“We’re still going to be pursuing improvements to our athletic fields,” he said. “We have to make sure those stay in the best conditions as possible, and over the next six years, we’re also having two major construction projects done in town on both the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge … and then once that bridge is completed, the Oceanic Bridge … so we have those two major construction projects here to look forward over the next years.”
Borough residents can also look forward to increase access to bicycle-pedestrian friendly lanes.
“The bikes lanes that we proposed were really the first ones in the area, but the plan is to have them be part of a much larger connecting bike-path system,” he said. “We’re very proud of that and it was a joint project between Little Silver, Fair Haven, Rumson and Monmouth County.”
