Chatham Council President Drops Out Of Race

CHATHAM, NJ - Less than two months from election day, James Collander is ending his bid for another round on the dias on the Chatham Borough Council.

“I have truly enjoyed serving the people of Chatham,” said Collander. “It wasn’t an easy decision to step away, but I’ve entered a stage in my life where I’m traveling more, spending more time at the shore in the summer and Florida in the winter and visiting with family and friends. I feel this is the right time to pass the torch.”

Paul Kelley, of Highland Avenue, joins the Republican ticket replacing Collander who has served as a Chatham Borough council member since 2005 who earned his party's nomination in June with 274 votes.

Kelley joins Councilman Bob Weber who is running for mayor and Stacey McEvoy who is running for a council seat.

They will face Democrat Irene Treloar who earned her party's nomination with 322 or 49.54 percent of the vote and Democrat Karen Koronkiewicz who earned her party's nomination with 325 or 50 percent of the vote.

An astute listener, consensus builder and leader, Collander was passionate about every project he worked on, always putting Chatham Borough residents first and delivering decisions to help the greater good, Jim Lonergan of the Chatham GOP said.

Having served on or assumed the chairperson role on more than 15 different borough boards, commissions and committees in his tenure, Collander’s distinguished career in public service to the Chatham Borough community is built on a solid record of accomplishments, the Chatham GOP said.

Chatham Borough enjoys a AAA bond rating and a nationally accredited Police Department as a result of Collander’s efforts. He is also credited for working with the King’s Road neighborhood for a mutually agreed to traffic calming system and installing flashing lights at key intersections in the borough to make pedestrian crossing safer, the GOP said.

Collander served as chair of Long-Range Traffic/Pedestrian Safety; Chair of Public Safety; Liaison to the Shade Tree Commission; Personnel Committee; Affordable Housing Advisory Committee; Recreation Shared Services and Joint Court-Shared Services.

Kelley, a 10-year borough resident, will replace Collander on the ticket in November. Kelley works at Aon Cyber Solutions focusing on cyber security. Previously, he worked in the electronic discovery market at CDS Legal, and in Forensic Accounting at KPMG and Deloitte & Touche. He also has developed a number of properties in Chatham Borough. An Eagle Scout, Kelley and his wife have two children in the School District of the Chathams, are parishioners of Corpus Christi Parish and are members of Chatham Fish & Game.

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