Chatham Twp. Mayor Summarizes Accomplishments, Asks Voters For Support

Dear friends and neighbors,
Thank you again for your continued support over these past two years. I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve on the Chatham Township Committee, first as deputy mayor in 2014 and 2015 and now as your mayor. I encourage you to view my address at the Township Committee reorganization meeting where I reviewed our 2015 accomplishments and our focus for 2016. 
Over my tenure on the committee I have helped spearhead many new initiatives, from communications, to public safety and public health, to community involvement. These initiatives have been designed to further improve the quality of life of our residents and ensure that Chatham Township remains a great place to live and raise a family. 
As a commitment to communications, I established our township’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter; created our new bi-monthly e-newsletter, which remains one of the most visited pages on our township website, spearheaded the rebranding of our community and emergency alert platform to Alert Chatham Township (ACT Now) to ensure residents are registered for this free community and emergency alert system. In 2015 alone we saw a 15 percent increase in registrations and we now have more than 4,100 subscribers. In addition, we now post videos of our meetings online, and include links to the resolutions and ordinances discussed at committee meetings. More recently, we launched Chatham Township Perspectives, a series of Q&A-style videos with key township employees and volunteers. 
In ensuring the public’s safety, while Chatham Township has been recognized as one of the safest places to live in America, we strive to ensure that it remains a safe place to live and raise a family, in doing so I helped launch our new Neighborhood Watch program, which is a nationally recognized program that brings neighbors together as a community so that they can assist our police to ensure that Chatham Township remains one of the safest towns in America. If you would like to learn more please call Officer Bloom at 377-0100. In addition, I lead our efforts to promote bear safety when the township hosted a black bear awareness seminar for residents and was a proponent of establishing four way stop signs on Sandy Hill, restricting parking on Spring Street and lowering the speed limit on Lafayette in an effort to ensure the safety of our children. 
As far as fiscal discipline, ensuring that your tax dollars are being prudently spent remains of utmost importance and I continue to take pride in the committee’s efforts to prudently manage expenses while increasing awareness of the budget process so all residents understand how their tax dollars are being spent. In 2015 and again in 2016, we cut local taxes reflecting the lowest local purpose tax rate in more than 10 years! Few, if any municipalities in NJ can tout this significant accomplishment.
Building a stronger community has been key. Whether it’s my involvement as the founder and president of The Chatham Turkey Trot, my efforts to rebrand and promote The Colony Pool Club, or my efforts to organize the first annual American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Walk, I have always focused on building a greater sense of community and pride in Chatham Township. As a result, The Chatham Turkey Trot experienced its most successful year ever with more than 950 runners and raising more than $24,000 for the Chatham Township Volunteer Fire Department, the Diabetes Research Institute and the Chatham Emergency Squad. This past year, our rebranding and marketing efforts around The Colony Pool Club met with much success as we saw an increase in membership of more than seven percent following my efforts to build a new a website, and launch a comprehensive marketing campaign. This Sept. 24, we will host the first annual Out of the Darkness Walk at the Chatham High School to increase awareness of suicide prevention. You can register at https://bit.ly/1SLTlEe to participate or to donate. I hope you can join us.  
While these are a few of the many accomplishments, there are still opportunities that lie ahead for Chatham Township. If you would like to learn more, I encourage you to visit my website, www.CurtForChatham.com.
On June 7, I ask for your vote in the Republican primary.  I hope that I can count on you to join me as we continue to work together, as one community, to Build a Better Chatham. 
Best regards,
Curt Ritter