Three newly-elected Lawrence Township Council members will be sworn into office at the annual reorganization meeting on New Year’s Day.
The meeting begins at noon and will be held in the Township Council meeting room at the Lawrence Township Municipal Building, 2207 Lawrence Road.
Patricia Hendricks Farmer, Olympia I’liou Perry and John T. Ryan will be sworn into office for their respective four-year terms. Ryan will begin serving his second term. Farmer and Perry will begin their first terms.
State Sen. Shirley K. Turner will administer the oath of office to Farmer, and state Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds Jackson will administer the oath to Perry.
Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli will swear in Ryan.
Farmer, Perry and Ryan will join Township Councilmen Christopher Bobbitt and James Kownacki on the dais.
Once the full Township Council has been seated, it will elect a mayor from among its ranks to serve in the ceremonial post for a two-year term. Turner will administer the oath of office to the elected mayor.
In other business, the Township Council is expected to approve an assortment of routine resolutions.
It will appoint a municipal auditor, a bond counsel (attorney), and a public defender and alternate municipal prosecutors for the Lawrence Township Municipal Court. The appointments are for a full year.
In an unusual move, the Township Council is expected to make several short-term appointments, to include the municipal attorney for the month of January.
Also, a special counsel will be appointed for tax appeals and township litigation for the month of January, and a special counsel for labor relations who will serve from Jan. 1 through Feb. 29.
