Message from Chatham Twp Michael Choi

Message from Chatham Twp Michael Choi - 

Note: This message was delivered by the Mayor at the public Township Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025.

This year has been a year of genuine progress for Chatham Township, and I’m proud of what we have accomplished.

OPERATIONS
We updated ordinances for salary ranges and regulating unsolicited printed material, modernized our departmental fee schedule (land-use, fire prevention), amended our flood hazard ordinance and enhanced personnel across departments.

We deepened our shared-services partnerships, approving agreements with Harding Township, the Joint Municipal Court, Union Health Department and the Morris County MCMUA. All of this, of course, enables the Township to leverage fixed costs to deliver efficient services through multi-party cooperation.

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
We also took on major capital improvements: newly paved roads on Dellwood, Overlook, Old Farm and Britten Road; improvements to Pine Street; improved drainage at Hillside Trail and Fairmount Avenue; the start of Safe Routes to School improvements; major investments to our recreation spaces like upgrades to our Colony tennis courts, reconstruction of Colony Pool and installation of a new playground at Nash Field (fully funded grant); ADA improvements at Esternay; design finalization of the Green Village Connector Trail (fully funded grant); and investments in turbine pumps and other system-critical equipment (behind the scenes work at our WPC that keeps our town running smoothly every day).

PUBLIC SAFETY
An underpinning to a strong community is public safety. The promise of safe streets and peaceful, pleasant living can only come about through vigilant, friendly police, swift fire protection and caring emergency service. As such, we took action this year to properly equip our police with ALPR technology and police radios and vehicles as well as our volunteer firefighters with key apparatus upgrades and other critical equipment. We made vital commitments to ensure their stuff is compliant, safe and effective so in turn they can keep all of us safe.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The 4th round of affordable housing is the next installation every municipality must negotiate. I am proud of the work the affordable housing subcommittee and this committee in effecting a plan which smartly challenged the state’s preliminary figures, notched a win for the Township in appeal and passed a fair share housing element plan which complies with the state, keeps our green space largely untouched and allows for reasonable development in keeping with our community.

FINANCES
Financially, we stayed disciplined by adopting a responsible budget, completing the annual audit, securing grants for recreation, recycling, and environmental initiatives, and updating our capital and bond ordinances to keep long-term projects moving forward. Our Township financials are comfortably leveraged and revenue-stable. Overall, a clean bill of health.

HUMAN CAPITAL
And through it all, we continued to invest in what I believe is a most precious resource – our people. There were new appointments and promotions to our WPC plant, Administration, Police, DPW as well as many of our volunteer boards.

So, thank you. Thank you to our staff, professionals, volunteers and Township citizens. Everything we achieved this year (every ordinance, every improvement, every investment) was driven by a shared commitment to keeping Chatham Township moving forward. And the best part is this – we’re just getting started. As I look upon the dais, I am pleased to see caring, seasoned committee members, and I see stability in leadership for the next couple of years. I like to think we can accomplish even more for our residents in 2026 and beyond.