To the Editor:
Happy 2020 to the residents of Hopewell Township!
I am excited to begin this new decade as your Mayor and am really looking forward to all the good things I know we will accomplish together this year. I want to start the year by thanking the many volunteers who devotedly serve their community on our boards and committees.
Hopewell Township is served by dedicated, hard working and extremely capable professional staff. Our streets are clean and safe, our taxes are collected and then our bills are paid, our zoning and construction codes are upheld, and a wide variety of residents’ needs are met with thought and professionalism by our staff. The five members of the Township Committee give guidance to policies and work with other municipalities, the county, and the state to find solutions to our challenges.
If these were the only people working on behalf of the residents, there would be a tremendous gap in what needs to be done, and what gets done. To fill that gap, our 16 committees and boards, plus other groups that include people from the entire Valley, provide insight, guidance and leadership on the issues we face as the future unfolds here in Hopewell Township. We are incredibly fortunate to have many of these positions filled by people who have served in that capacity for years and years.
This year, as happens most years, they are joined by people who will be taking on these roles for the first time. In choosing new people to fill open spots, we look for smart, capable people and strive to choose the right person regardless of political affiliation.
I am really pleased to welcome a diverse group of people who work in very different fields, have different political affiliations, and bring experiences from all over the country to their new groups. In speaking with the new volunteers, I was really struck by their enthusiasm for Hopewell Township and their truly selfless view of what service to their community means to them. I am excited to see what fresh solutions and ideas they will bring to our community.
Thanks to everyone who takes time away from their families to spend making our home a better place for all of us.
Kristin McLaughlin
Mayor of Hopewell Township
Writing as an individual, not on behalf of the Hopewell Township Committee
