Township committee swears in mayor and deputy mayor, approves appointments and authorizes attorneys on affordable-housing matter

The Greenwich Township Committee on Jan. 4 administered oaths for newly sworn officials, approved a block of routine resolutions and appointments, and authorized the township's affordable-housing and condemnation attorneys to take actions related to an executive-session discussion on litigation and affordable housing.

The committee began by recording its compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act and then administered the oath of office to committee person McMan, who was identified in the meeting as reelected. The committee then opened and closed nominations for mayor; a nomination was made for an individual identified in the meeting as Robert B., who subsequently took the oath of office and was congratulated by colleagues. The committee also nominated and sworn in Paul Bean as deputy mayor.

After the leadership formalities, the committee moved to adopt resolutions 012 through 026 as a block. The chair described the items as housekeeping (reappointments, scheduling dates and routine matters); the motion passed on roll call with recorded yes votes from Mayor Barney, Mr. Beam and Miss Mcdermit as noted in the record. The committee also addressed a land use board resignation, advancing alternates into full roles (including Andrea Sherw, listed in the record as 'Andrea sherw') and approved appointments to the environmental, recreation, historical, board of health and open space committees.

The committee opened a public-comment period; the provided transcript segments record the opening but do not include substantive public remarks. Later, members moved into executive session to discuss litigation and an affordable-housing matter, noting that a decision or action might follow. Upon returning to public session the committee stated that no official action had been taken during the closed session and that minutes will be available when the committee determines there is no harm to the public interest.

Following that return, the committee voted to authorize the affordable-housing attorney and the condemnation attorney to take action arising from the executive-session discussion; the motion was seconded and approved. The meeting closed after routine final motions.

What happens next: The record indicates minutes related to the executive session will be released when the committee determines doing so will not harm the public interest; the authorized attorneys were directed to proceed as permitted by their instructions from the committee.