HANOVER TOWNSHIP — Township Committeeman John L. Ferramosca was sworn in as Mayor of Hanover Township Effective July 9, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
Ferramosca is serving his fourth term on the Township Committee.
In addition, Committeeman Thomas “Ace” Gallagher was sworn in to serve as Deputy Mayor, effective July 9 through December 31, 2020.
After taking the oath of office Mayor Ferramosca said “I look forward to serving the Hanover community in this leadership assignment. I look forward to keeping a great tradition in Hanover of keeping it a safe, affordable place to live, work, and play. I thank the members of the township committee for nominating me and supporting my appointment as chairman. I’m truly honored to serve in this capacity. I’m also very fortunate and blessed to have such a great group of extraordinary colleagues dedicated to the success of Hanover Township. As a team, we work together to optimize our department structure and individual responsibilities. And at this time I’d like to share with you the results of the committee’s work in terms of restructuring the departments that we’re responsible for. We’ll begin with Mr. Cahill. Committeeman Cahill will continue to lead public safety building initiatives and the original schools’ committee. Now Committeeman Mihalko will expand his recreational responsibilities to includes parks and field management, open space, primary education, and substance awareness. Committeeman Gallagher will take on the role of deputy mayor. Mr. Gallagher will be the director of planning and engineering, HSA and EDAC along with lead the subcommittee for school safety, traffic, and parks. While, Mayor Francioli will assume a committee directorship for public works, water management, community farm, and what the committee calls the quality of life initiatives, working with many groups in our township to include our seniors. This plan will be made available and posted in greater detail on the township website. At this time, I’d like to make a quick personal note. I would like to thank my family for being here tonight for their continued support. And especially my wife, Kathy, who’s celebrating her birthday with us tonight. And I highly recommend that you get going to her birthday dinner real soon before your reservation gets pulled. On behalf of the township committee, though, the municipal staff, the numerous board leaders who have contacted me, I’d like to make some commentary about Mayor Ron Francioli. I would like to thank on behalf of this group of people and commend Mayor Ron for his leadership, his extraordinary service, and commitment to the people of Hanover Township.”
“Mayor Francioli has served our community with distinction for the past 40 years, 20 of which when he was in a leadership role as chairman of this committee. Mayor Ron, or the lightning rod, as we affectionately call him, has helped make Hanover into one of the best towns in the County and arguably the best municipality in the State of New Jersey. Mayor Ron is a true fiscal conservative and his policies are true to his roots, which go back to the days when he assumed the seat of the great Assemblyman Mr. R. Alba. Let’s take a minute to reflect upon just some of his highlights, which quite frankly, we’d be here all night. So I’m going to hit on the high, the high ones from Mayor Ron has helped keep Hanover debt-free that is quite an accomplishment, especially in this country, the way in which debt is considered just charging there are real costs to just charging it. We don’t have that debt-free obligation. That’s very, very important. And it’s a credit to his leadership. This has enabled us to keep Hanover an affordable place to live while providing us with a wide range of fine municipal services. Mayor Ron has been an integral part of our planning process and economic development advancement initiatives, which have helped attract and recruit some of what we call here the bluest of the blue chips of fortune 100 companies residing in Hanover Township. That comes through perseverance and great strategic work. Has been and continues to be a friend of our environment. Those of you who may have forgotten, he started in the early days, fighting with CCA. And for those you’ve forgotten Container Corporation of America, they wanted a radically change Hanover Township. They wanted to reopen the operation of a paper mill in the center of our town, thinking what would have happened. if that took place. As a member of the township committee has consistently supported the strategic acquisition of hundreds of acres of open space to include the most recent purchase from the state of New Jersey of 65 acres known as the old Route 24 tract.”
“Mayor Ron is also a compassionate leader and has championed group homes in Hanover Township, which we are all very proud to host these individuals living in our community. He has also fought to support the prioritization of affordable housing for our first responders. And he’s brought that to the state, that initiative. Mayor Ron is well respected throughout the County throughout the State and is a member of the Mayor’s Hall of Fame. Our township committee would also like to especially thank Mayor Francioli for the diligent work serving during the past six month period, which has been very, very arduous. He worked diligently to help lead the development of a responsible debt-free budget during this tough period. And he served untiring way, serving you with all the municipal leaders, staff County departments to keep Hanover a safe place during this COVID-19 crisis. We are grateful to have him in the leadership role that he has provided us. And we truly look forward to and his contributions, which we assure that we’ll be many as the new director, DPW and quality of life and chief mentor to the township committed. We thank you.
