Remarks Made By Curt Ritter At The Chatham Township Committee Re-Organization Meeting

Submitted by Chatham Township Committee Member Curt Ritter

This past year has been busy for the Committee and I am very proud of our many accomplishments and in particular those I had a role in.

Some of you may recall our reorganization meeting last year. It was a contentious room to say the least. There were those who shouted and maintained the philosophy that he who shouts loudest is right. People said I had no right to think that I could serve as Deputy Mayor.

I hope from my actions this past year and what we have accomplished these individuals may think differently today and that I’ve proven them wrong.

As many of you may know, my primary focus this past year has been on communications. Among our key accomplishment this year.

· I spear-headed the creation of a new Communications Committee, which remains focused on improving the communications between the Township Committee and the community.

· As part of these efforts, we needed a foundation and I led the development of our communications protocol and procedures manual that now serves as the cornerstone for our external communications program.

· This past year I wrote and distributed 10 press releases informing residents of issues important to them.

· I conceived of and launched our new bi-monthly E-Newsletter, which, with the assistance of Tom Salvas, continues to be one of the top downloaded and most viewed pieces on content on our website.

· I established our presence on Facebook and Twitter, which has allowed us to further amplify the news of the Committee and promote issues important to the community. We have nearly 400 ‘Likes’ and over 100 ‘Followers.’ I encourage those of you who haven’t done so already to follow us and like us.

· I proposed a resolution that sought to include hyperlinks, when possible, to our online draft agendas so residents could familiarize themselves with the topics being discussed before the Committee and we now also post videos of our Township meetings so individuals can view them at their convenience. These videos and agendas also remain some of the most visited pages on our website.

· I also took the lead in our efforts to rebrand Everbridge, our community and emergency alert system, to ACT NOW! – Alert Chatham Township Now – which has been used to keep residents abreast of weather-related emergencies and important community-related issues. This past year we have seen a significant increase in resident registrations for this system.

Overall I’d say it has been a very successful year, and while I may have taken the lead in many of these initiatives, I recognize the fact that they could not have been achieved if it were not for the additional support and efforts of my fellow Committee members and for that I’d like to say Thanks You.

Looking ahead to 2015, there is still plenty more to do and many opportunities as we continue to work on Building a Better Chatham.

I appreciate the support of the Committee and look forward to serving the residents of Chatham Township as their Deputy Mayor and working with new Committee members Mike Kelly and Karen Swartz. Thank you.