FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Township Committeewoman Barbara McMorrow will return to a position she has held in the past – serving as mayor of Freehold Township.
McMorrow was elected mayor for 2019 by her fellow Township Committee members at the governing body’s reorganization meeting on Jan. 4.
Under Freehold Township’s form of government, the mayor is not directly elected by voters. Each January, the members of the governing body elect one member to serve a one-year term as mayor.
After incumbents Anthony Ammiano and Thomas Cook were sworn in to begin serving new three-year terms, McMorrow was nominated for mayor and sworn in after she, Ammiano, Cook and committeemen David Salkin and Lester Preston voted for her election.
“I am honored and humbled to be serving as mayor for 2019, and I thank my colleagues on the committee for electing me to this position,” McMorrow said after the meeting. “From running meetings to cutting ribbons, from reading to the children in our schools or serving food to our seniors at their monthly luncheons, from working with our various municipal departments to meeting with different community organizations, I have many opportunities to meet and speak with our residents.
“Together, the Township Committee and I working with our administrator, our professionals and our employees, continue to address the important issues facing all of us who live and work in Freehold Township,” she said. “As I said when taking the oath of office, I will work to the best of my ability to faithfully, impartially and justly perform the duties of mayor.”
McMorrow has served on the governing body in Freehold Township since 2010. She served as mayor in 2013 and 2016.
When she lived in Freehold Borough, McMorrow was a member of the Borough Council. She is also a former member of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
McMorrow is the only individual to have served on the Borough Council in Freehold Borough and the Township Committee in Freehold Township.
Preston, who has been a member of the committee since 2015, was elected to serve as deputy mayor for 2019. He previously served as mayor in 2017 and deputy mayor in 2016.
Republicans hold a 5-0 majority on the Township Committee.
