Borough Administrator Bradford Stokes to Retire

Thursday, July 14, borough officials announced longtime Borough Administrator Bradford Stokes will retire from his position, to pursue a position with risk management firm Conner Strong & Buckelew.

Officials said current Tax Collector Keith Hastings will replace Stokes this August. 

Stokes been a borough employee since 1978, when he was hired as a custodian. He's also a lifelong Collingswood resident and graduate of Collingswood High School.

After being hired by the borough in 1978, Stokes made his way up the ladder in Collingswood's Public Works Department as a laborer, a foreman and later—in 1990—as superintendent of public works. 

Also a certified public manager, Stokes was appointed borough administrator 11 years ago, in 2000. 

Since that appointment, he's taken charge of borough positions, such as recycling coordinator for the Collingswood Housing Authority. Stokes is also a Collingswood Fire Company lifetime member.

According to borough officials, Stokes' 32-plus years working for Collingswood "is one of the longest-running tenures of any municipal employee with the borough."

"It is hard for anyone in the borough family to imagine (Collingswood) without Brad Stokes," said Mayor James Maley. "He is an integral part of the town—as the Collings and Knight families were, in their day. He will be missed, but we are confident and assured he will be followed by his colleague and good friend Keith Hastings.

"Keith's family has deep Collingswood roots, and his commitment to town is second-to-none," said Maley. "It's a new chapter, but the same great story."

Hastings graduated Collingswood High School in 1979, and has been working for the borough since 1985. He began as a borough leaf-raker, then a Collingswood Water Department meter reader, and then as Water and Sewer Department supervisor. He later became the borough's director of revenue.

Hastings has been Collingswood's tax collector for the past four years, since 2007.