History-Making Essex County Freeholder Replaces Sheila Oliver

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A history-making New Jersey state assemblywoman has left her post to become lieutenant governor. But her replacement – another landmark-setting legislator with deep Essex County roots – is ready to fill some very large shoes.

Earlier this week, East Orange resident and former Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders President Britnee Timberlake was sworn-in to her position as an assemblywoman in the 34th District.

Timberlake is taking over for Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, a Newark native who made New Jersey history when she left her seat in the state legislature to become the first African-American woman to first woman of color serving in a statewide office."

Timberlake will serve in Oliver’s stead until a special election can be held in November for the remainder of her two-year term, NJ.com reported.

According to the Essex County freeholders, in November 2014, Timberlake became the youngest freeholder elected in the state of New Jersey at the age of 29. After being named freeholder president in 2014, she became the only African-American female to hold such a position in the state at the time.

During her tenure, she represented Essex County’s 3rd district, an area that includes parts of Newark’s West Ward, East Orange, Orange, and South Orange. As the District 34 Assemblywoman, she will continue to represent these areas, but now at the state level.

According to a freeholder news release, some of Timberlake’s highlights as freeholder include:

• In 2015, drafted a law requiring banks the county holds taxpayer deposits with to come before the board to show proof of their efforts to reduce foreclosures, provide loans to entrepreneurs, assist low-to-moderate-income communities, and maintain vacant homes they own
• In 2016, spearheaded the Essex County Clean Jobs Initiative, a law expected to create both job training and placement for Essex County’s unemployed and underemployed residents in the highly specialized and lucrative trade of environmental lead, asbestos, and contamination remediation
• In 2017, wrote an affirmative action law that established a set-aside and joint venture program to increase economic opportunity for women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned businesses
• Established a Freeholder Citizen Immigration Services Committee to welcome people of all nationalities to Essex County

Apart from her contributions to local government, Timberlake is the founding executive director of a non-profit affordable housing organization called the Essex Community Land Trust (ECLT), which strengthens communities by providing permanent affordable housing and financial empowerment opportunities for working families and individuals throughout Essex County.

She has also traveled as a church leader with Calvary Baptist Church of East Orange to do missionary work in Jamaica, and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in religious studies and a master’s degree in public administration from Seton Hall University.

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Main Photo: YouTube / New Jersey Assembly Democrats