Mapp Leads Council for 2012

Judge Joan Robinson Gross administers the oath of office to Council President Adrian Mapp.


In a unanimous vote Tuesday, City Council members chose Adrian Mapp to serve as their president for 2012.

Mapp pledged to seek cooperation between the governing body and the administration and named goals including shared services among all major city entities, greater transparency in government and a push to make sure that the Plainfield portion of Route 28 reverts to state control.

Councilman William Reid won his colleagues' unanimous support to serve as chairman of the whole for 2012.

Ceremonies included swearing-in of Councilman Cory Storch for a third term representing the Second Ward and Councilwoman Vera Greaves for her first full four-year term in the First and Fourth Wards at-large seat.

Greaves' family filled an entire row in Municipal Court. Well-wishers and council regulars braved bitter cold to attend the meeting, which also featured a State of the City address by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. The mayor read what she called "snippets" from 37 pages of a booklet detailing goals and objectives of numerous city divisions. The booklet was passed out to the crowd and will also be published on the city web site as well as on the two local cable channels. She also called for prayers on behalf  PMUA employee Robert Morris, who lost a leg early on Dec. 26 when he was pinned between a car and a sanitation truck on Watchung Avenue.

The council will launch its 2012 schedule with an agenda-fixing session at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 9 in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.and a regular  meeting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17 in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice