By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – A longtime employee of Freehold Township is retiring after more than two decades of service with the municipality.
Township Clerk Terry Warner, who worked for the township for 24 years, is retiring. The announcement of Warner’s retirement was made at a Township Committee meeting on May 23.
According to a proclamation presented to Warner by the committee, she joined the township in 1993 as a typist in the clerk’s office. She was named township clerk in 2008.
“I have only been (on the committee) for not even two-and-a-half years and in that short period of time I have learned so much from this woman,” Mayor Lester Preston said of Warner. “She is the face of Freehold Township for so many things and she has done a tremendous job of representing our town. It is with great sadness that we see you go, but with much joy and happiness in your retirement. We wish you nothing but the best.”
Deputy Mayor David Salkin, who joined the governing body in 1994, said, “I started my career a couple of months apart from Terry. [Watching her roles change was] like watching somebody go from private, to corporal, to sergeant and I think [Warner is] the five star general now.
“It is a personal loss not to see her smiling face when I’m in the building all the time, but I am very happy for [Warner’s] family, who are going to be thrilled to have her around a little more,” Salkin said.
“It just seems like yesterday that I came in,” said Warner, who was joined by her family at the meeting. “I will miss everyone. It has been a wonderful thing, all the opportunities [the township has] given to me and I thank you.”
After recognizing Warner, the committee members passed a resolution appointing Theresa Patino, the current deputy clerk, to the position of township clerk.
Patino was appointed to a three-year term from June 1, 2017 through May 31, 2020. She has been the deputy clerk since 2008, according to the resolution. Patino was sworn in as the municipal clerk by Warner.
Committee members appointed Sanabel Abouzeina as the new deputy clerk.
