Meet Lisa Swain: Challenge Seeker

said she'd never considered seeking political office prior to running for borough council five years ago. She just knew she was ready to take on something new.

"I was ready for a new challenge," said Swain, an experienced triathlete and swim instructor. "I always like to be moving ahead. I’m always ready for the next challenge...I was ready for something and then that fell in my lap."

Prior to running for office, Swain served on the Library Board as treasurer and eventually president. Toward the end of her sixth year on the board, Swain said approached her about running on the Democratic ticket for council.

"It was a mixture of 'Wow,' excitement. Kind of scary. A little daunting. But I kind of jumped right in," Swain said of the invitation to run.

Her relative political inexperience ended up being no matter as Swain was elected in her first time on the ballot and has been a member of council ever since, most recently .

She said serving the public has been both rewarding and provided a tremendous learning experience for her. The main challenge has been acclimating to government's deliberate pace as it relates to effecting change.

"I thought that I would be able to make a difference a little bit faster, and it took me a while to learn the process of government," Swain said. "There are so many layers and you have to learn how things get done." 

Although there was a bit of a learning curve, Swain feels like her people skills helped ease the process and made her an effective mayor last year.

"I feel that I've been good at building consensus and getting the council as a small group to work together and then the larger community as a whole, bringing them together behind certain events," she said.

If she had to do it all over again, Swain said she wouldn't change a thing. She has no regrets.

"I feel like every decision I’ve made I feel comfortable with. I haven’t lost sleep over something," Swain said. "I’ve lost sleep over making difficult decisions, but not in the actual decision itself. I feel strong about how I’ve voted on things." 

Going forward, Swain said her priorities are improving public safety, maintaining services, bringing businesses to town, and the big one -- stabilizing taxes.

"Everybody wants us to do something about taxes. That is the number one concern," Swain said before the election. "People don’t really talk about McMansions or overdevelopment. I haven’t heard that. They really don’t even talk about the . They talk about taxes. They love Fair Lawn, they feel that it’s a nice community, they want to stay, they just don’t want to pay huge taxes."

To keep taxes down, Swain said she's always looking for innovative ways to share services and cut costs while maintaining the level of services residents have come to expect.

And although she's , Swain said she'll remain available to community members by  like she did in the run-up to the .

"What matters in Fair Lawn is that we support our community," Swain said at the council re-organization on Jan 3, "that we help each other wherever possible and that we strive to make a difference and leave a positive impression on society."