Summit voters are confronted with three choices for Mayor on Election Day; party nominees Ellen Dickson, Eileen Forman Ludden, and independent Michael Vernotico. The traits we need for mayoral leadership are honesty, experience, compatibility, humility and performance. How do our candidates compare?  Eileen Ludden is untested, inexperienced and naïve if she thinks we can reconcile our differences with Union County by playing nicey-nice. She may be a future contender but is not ready to take on the Chief Executive role of a major City and is definitely not a polished successor to Janet Whitman…

Like many Summit residents, one of my family’s favorite weekend activities is to spend time in the center of town shopping, running errands, grabbing a cup of coffee or lunch, and catching up with the friends and neighbors that we inevitably bump into. The more people I see, the better. I love it when the streets are bustling. Recently, my children were excited to see a policeman on a bicycle. It reminded me of when Officer Monticello was often seen cruising the downtown on his bike creating a solid, reassuring feeling. It wasn’t just my children who were happy to see the cyclist cop – his …

Recently I stated I am open to exploring possibly moving to an elected school board echoing the same sentiments expressed by Mayor Glatt last year. Overall, I think we have an excellent Board of Education, but I agree school governance should be the subject of public discussion. We should always welcome new ideas that could lead to improvement. Community input is a critical step in maintaining, and increasing, the excellence of our schools. Just a few days ago, A. Dennis White, my opponent in the race for Common Council in Ward 2 published an article criticizing my position based on his …

To the editor:Summit Police Chief Robert Lucid retired August 1st after 36 years in the Police Department. His legacy is a force of 46 highly trained and educated police officers that I would trust in any situation. The process to choose a new chief begins shortly. The Mayor in conjunction with the City Administrator and the Safety committee which I chair will be interviewing the four candidates that qualify and expressed interest. I am confident that any one of these officers would do a good job.Police staffing has varied over the years. In the 1970’s we hit a high of 58. In the 1980s  a low…