Amid pomp and circumstance, and brevity, Monmouth County commissioners organize for 2024
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - Thomas A. Arnone was appointed to a ninth year as director of the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, in a ceremony at the Biotechnology High School that also saw the swearing in of a new commissioner.
There was none of the visible palace intrigue that had dominated the organizational meeting of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners one day earlier.
Monmouth County’s inaugural meeting of the year was notable for its pomp and circumstance, its elegance, and perhaps its brevity and discipline above all else — the latter of which Arnone made a point of saying he had insisted upon.
Lasting for about an hour, a pair of Monmouth County sheriff’s officers flanked the stage of the school’s auditorium where the commissioners had convened to accommodate an oversized crowd of local, state and federal dignitaries. As the meeting progressed, the officers moved with the precision of royal guards, with a new pair of officers marching in to relieve their predecessors more than halfway through the meeting.
Arnone said that inflation would be a challenge for the county government as it prepared its budget for the new year, but that the county would continue to preserve its qualify of life while keeping costs down.
Succeeding longtime Commissioner Lillian G. Burry, who retired at the end of 2023, was former Shrewsbury Borough Mayor Erik Anderson, who was administered the oath of office on Thursday.
“Monmouth County is the best place in New Jersey to live, work and raise a family,” Anderson declared in public remarks that were nothing but congenial in their totality.
The new commissioner said he was committed to “ensuring fiscal responsibility for taxpayers, supporting our law enforcement and first responders, (and) preserving open space.”
Commissioner Ross F. Licitra, who was sworn in to a second, three-year term, said that “being elected to public office and having a trust bestowed upon me by the people of Monmouth County has truly been the biggest honor of my life — other than being a father to my two beautiful children.”
In Ocean County: New county commissioner disagrees with colleagues on his first day on the job
He opined that “many elected officials” had lost the meaning of what it means to be such an elected official.
“Being elected is about understanding your constituency and the needs and the wants of the majority, but never losing sight of the minority who needs to be heard and included,” Licitra said. “This is a very careful balancing act, it’s like being a parent. You have the financial responsibility of maintaining a household; of trying to provide the best for your family across the board; having to make tough decisions for the betterment of the future; for their future and for your future — your family’s future.”
Licitra was also named deputy director of the board for 2024.
Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth County NJ commissioners organize for 2024
