Earlier this week, on New Year’s Day, residents, elected officials, friends, and family members gathered in person for the reorganizational meeting of Livingston’s Township Council. We were heartened to see another packed event, with hundreds of residents filling the Livingston Senior/Community Center to witness the township’s government and committees be set for the year.It cannot be overstated how wonderful it is to see that so many residents have volunteered to help make this town great. The dozens of committees included the Arts Council, the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, various parade and event planning groups, and so much more. It’s that willingness to contribute to this community that makes Livingston so special, and that was evident this past Monday.As is the case each year, two of the five Council members were selected as deputy mayor and mayor. Al Anthony will be mayor in 2024, his third time in the role, with Ed Meinhardt named deputy mayor. While the mayor’s vote counts the same as every other member of the Council due to Livingston’s “weak mayor” style of government and annual rotation at the position, it still very much matters who leads our town, as they are the face of Livingston for the coming year. We wish Anthony good luck in the position and hope he represents this community well.As we embark on a new year, there is much to look forward to in town. In addition to the continuation of great traditions like the Memorial Day Parade and the Fourth of July fireworks, we also eagerly anticipate the progress and conclusion of some business matters that have been topics of discussion in recent years. Some of the goals listed by Council members during the reorganizational meeting included working in tandem with the school district, finally opening the new Department of Public Works building, consolidating and refurbishing the township pools, and utilizing our Open Space land. These are regularly stated goals of the Council in recent years (all of them were mentioned at the start of 2023, as well) and we hope that 2024 is the year we see them finally come to fruition.Of all of those goals, we are certainly long overdue on constructing the new Department of Public Works building. The current building has been in disarray for years and is undersized. In 2021, this led to issues during a snow storm that forced schools to close for a ...
