Cranford's Got A New Mayor And Deputy Mayor

CRANFORD, NJ — The Cranford Township Committee met Tuesday evening and elected Kathleen Miller Prunty as mayor and newly elected member Brian Andrews as deputy mayor.

In Cranford's form of government, the five members of the Township Committee are elected in November by the voters, and they then elect a chairman/mayor from among themselves, to serve in that role for one year.

Prunty has served as Cranford deputy mayor before and has also worked as the director for Downtown Cranford, and last year for six months as interim director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation. (See a past profile here.)

Brian Andrews, a Democrat, won his election in November on a slate with Jason Gareis.

Andrews' candidate profile in fall said he has served on local committees including the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition and has consulted for the U.S. government.

Outgoing Mayor Patrick Giblin and Committeeman Jean-Albert Maisonneuve, both Democrats, decided against running for re-election to their seats.

The other commissioners are presently overseeing these areas:

• Commissioner Jason Gareis (Public Safety)
• Thomas Hannen (Public Works & Engineering)
• Mary O’Connor (Finance)

The commissioners also voted to name residents to various official boards, committees and commissions. They also named various professionals to provide expertise on legal, planning and engineering matters.

Ryan Cooper was named township attorney.

You can view a complete list of appointments on www.cranfordnj.org.

Swearing in and future meetings

Prunty was sworn in by Union County Commissioner Bette Jane Kowalski and Deputy Mayor Andrews’ oath was administered by Congressman Tom Malinowski.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, Andrews and Gareis took their oaths as township commissioners on Sunday morning in a private outdoor ceremony with their families present.

In a 4-1 vote, the Committee decided to return to virtual meetings beginning Tuesday, Jan. 12.

A complete meeting schedule of workshop and official meetings can be found here.

In a statement, the mayor cited the continuing rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cranford and the committee’s concern about having the public and employees in the closed Chambers for several hours during a meeting.

“Cranford was one of the few towns to return to in-person meetings, but the current situation has caused us to reconsider how we can safely manage twnship business,” the mayor said.

For future virtual meetings, there will be a single link included on each agenda that will be used for every meeting and there is no pre-registering to join.

Watch this spot for the agenda and virtual participation information.

Meetings will also be aired on TV35 and livestreamed on TV35 Facebook page.

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