I am excited to seek another term as your Councilman. Over the past 6 years, we’ve made significant strides in keeping New Providence a great place to live, a great place to work, and one of the safest, best places in NJ to raise a family.
Over my 2 terms, we’ve tackled several difficult challenges amid the Covid pandemic and its impact on maintaining essential services within the Municipal budget, which was compounded by rising healthcare costs and inflation. Despite these challenges, we completed significant infrastructure projects and facilitated long overdue town wide utility upgrades. Through sound fiscal planning we have maintained our scheduled and unscheduled paving of over 80 streets in the past two years. We added many recreation programs for youth, adults, and seniors. We added a new cricket pitch to a park that was barely being used. This park is now a tremendous addition to our inventory of beautiful parks and green spaces in town. We cleaned up and renovated children’s playgrounds, baseball fields, reconstructed brand new tennis courts and will start building new stand-alone pickleball courts next week! Through it all, we followed one simple rule. We stayed true to our values of doing what’s right for the community and our families.
When I first decided to run for Borough Council, my goals were simple: Be a good role model for my four children, be a community leader that will do the right thing for the town we all love and continue the great work our previous Councils have done to get us here. I wanted to bring your voices to the table and ensure that every decision we made was rooted in the best interests of our community. Together, we’ve accomplished a lot. We’ve improved our infrastructure, enhanced public safety, supported local businesses, and made our parks and fields some of the best in class that are admired by all who come to visit. But as proud as I am of what we’ve achieved, I’m excited to seek another term to continue the great work we have done and continue to make the right decisions that are right for all families.
Running for re-election is a decision I did not take lightly. It comes with a deep sense of responsibility and a commitment to continue serving with the same passion and dedication that I’ve brought to this role from day one. The reason I’m running again is simple: I believe we have one of the best, if not the best towns in New Jersey. I believe that together, we can continue building on the solid foundation we’ve laid.
Our town, like many others, is facing tough challenges ahead with rising costs and high-density housing as a result of affordable housing mandates. Serving on Council as well as serving on our Planning Board for the last 11 years gives me important and much needed experience to understand, analyze and make the right decisions when facing these challenges. We need to continue to innovate, to think creatively about how we can grow while preserving the character and values that make our town special. We need to address the concerns of all our residents, from our youngest to our oldest, ensuring that everyone feels heard and valued. We need to focus on sustainable development, ensuring that our town remains a wonderful place to live for generations to come.
My running mate, John Sponauer, is a great example of a community minded volunteer who has been given back to New Providence for over two decades. John and his wife Lynn have lived in New Providence for over 28 years. He has held many leadership positions within several civic organizations, most notably as Cub Master and Scout Master for our local scouting programs. He is a current Board Member of the New Providence Historical Society. You may even recognize him as the very knowledgeable tour guide if you ever participated in his very informative cemetery tours at the Presbyterian Church. If you have not, I highly recommend you take advantage of this incredible and unique experience. John cares deeply about this community and that is why I’m honored to run with him.
The success of our community depends on all of us working together, as we always have. I’m proud to be a part of a great team led by a hard-working, born and raised, true New Providence Pioneer, Mayor Al Morgan. We are a knowledgeable, experienced, and very dedicated Borough Council, who all work very well together, as a team, to do what’s right for New Providence. I believe our best days are ahead of us. With your help, we can continue to make progress, build a stronger community, and create a future that we can all be proud of.
In closing, I would like to thank you for your confidence in me and for giving me the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for all your support and I look forward to continuing the great work this Mayor and Council has achieved as well as representing the prior Councils that have laid the foundation to helped get us here!
Go Pioneers!
Councilman Matthew Cumiskey
