Take Five: Chatham Council Candidate Irene Treloar

CHATHAM, NJ - There are seats opening up on the Chatham Borough Council and Patch caught up with the candidates ahead of the general election this November.

Questionnaires were sent out out to all candidates registered with the County Clerk's Office in the 2019 general election using the email addresses they went on file with. The responses will be posted on the site by those who submitted in the order in which they were received. They will also be included in an election preview wrap.

This Take Five features Irene Treloar. Her responses to the questions are below and unedited.

1. Why are you running for office?

Hi Chathamites! My name is Irene Treloar and I am running for Chatham Borough Council. I grew up nearby in Roseland, which in many ways has the look and feel of Chatham, with its mostly residential neighborhoods and compact downtown. My husband grew up in East Hanover and when we met in law school, we instantly connected over our Jersey roots. We moved to Chatham Borough in 2013 so that we can provide our kids with the same kind of upbringing that we had. We feel a deep obligation to preserve this way of life for future generations.
I am running for Chatham Borough Council because I plan to live here for the next 50 years, and I want to help Chatham build a sustainable, thriving future. Our communities are strongest when we all get involved. I believe we can make valuable improvements while preserving those qualities that we value – the great schools, the sense of community and Chatham’s small-town charm.

2. What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

Chatham is facing flattened revenue streams while the costs of providing services is continuing to rise. Councilmember and mayoral candidate Thad Kobylarz looked at our aging downtown and put a plan in motion to attract new businesses to Main Street. The increased tax revenue from commercial properties will help offset the need to raise property taxes on residents, and the increase in daytime workers will boost our downtown economy. On top of everyone’s mind when we talk about redevelopment is traffic congestion. I share this concern. That is why we need to ensure that a comprehensive traffic mitigation plan is part of any redevelopment discussion with developers.
We also cannot ignore the impacts of climate change on our community. The reality is that we are likely to face more frequent and more severe storms in the ensuing years. We need to be proactive about mitigating their effects. I serve on the Borough’s Undergrounding Advisory Committee. Formed by Thad Kobylarz at the urging of an active group of residents, the Committee is investigating the feasibility of undergrounding our electric wires to improve the reliability of our electric service and save our trees from further butchering by JCP&L.

3. What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

In the coming months, the Council will be negotiating the redevelopment agreements for River Road and Post Office Plaza. We will need to work hard to strike the best deal for our community. In addition, our third-party services contracts, e.g., for recycling and garbage pickup, should be regularly reviewed as they come up for renewal to ensure that we are receiving the optimal level of services at the best prices. I am the only practicing attorney that is running and I negotiate contracts for a living. I believe my skills and experience will complement those of our current Councilmembers and the business skills of my running mate, Karen Koronkiewicz.

4. What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

I am member of Chatham Borough’s Communications & Technology Advisory Committee and we are actively working on modernizing the Borough’s means of getting important information to residents. These include revamping the Borough website to make it easier for residents to find information and making this information available to residents via social media platforms and electronic newsletters. One of the issues that I’ve heard from residents while canvassing is the lack of government transparency about the redevelopment projects. I am dismayed that interested residents have not learned of the public hearings, meetings and opportunities for them to provide input at various stages of the process. The Borough simply has not kept up with modern means of communication. We need to fix it. If we want to build broad consensus over complicated issues, the Council needs to be proactive in involving its residents in the process – with transparency, comes trust.

5. What inspires you?

These are the words I wrote in a Letter to the Editor published last year (Setting the Record Straight, TAPintoChatham, October 12, 2018). I feel better represented today, but this is what inspires me.

“In this tumultuous time in our history, where the rights of citizens to vote, to be heard and to disagree, are under attack, I am inspired by and grateful to the many people, especially women, who have courageously stepped forward to run for office at all levels of government throughout the country. This is not an easy thing to do in our traditionally ‘red’ town situated in our traditionally ‘red’ district. But these are false labels. Our residents represent a broad spectrum of views that to date, have been under-represented in the Council. If I've learned anything in the last couple of years, it is the power of representation. We should be encouraging civic participation in all forms."

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