Rayna Harris Administrator for the Borough of Fanwood
Borough of Fanwood
Mayor Colleen Mahr is delighted to introduce Rayna E. Harris as Administrator for the Borough of Fanwood. Born and raised in Union County, and currently living in Linden, Ms. Harris comes from a family of public servants and always felt that working in government to serve the people was her calling.
Well qualified for the position with undergraduate and Master’s degrees in public administration, Ms. Harris returns to Fanwood after serving as clerk in several other communities. Long-time Fanwood residents may recall Ms. Harris having worked as deputy clerk here in the borough several years ago.
“We were so pleased when Rayna answered the call to return and serve here in Fanwood,” said Mayor Mahr. “We know her to be a talented woman who is up for the challenge of taking Fanwood into the future. With the added advantage of having an established relationship with most of the current staff and a clear understanding of Borough operations, I have no doubt that Rayna is the right choice.”
Ms. Harris describes the scope of her duties this way: “The Borough Administrator runs the day-to-day operations of the borough. I report to the mayor and the council. I make sure the lights stay on and everybody comes to work. I’m involved in personnel activities. I manage grants and contracts and basically make sure that we have all the resources that we need.”
Ms. Harris joined the team in December 2020, taking over a position that had been held for 34 years by Eleanor McGovern.
“It’s a transition,” remarked Ms. Harris. “Fred Tomkins, our current CFO, had been serving as Acting Borough Administrator for almost a year, so I have Fred to guide me.”
Ms. Harris finds the single biggest challenge to the job is translating the objectives of the mayor and council, who represent the public, into policy and active programming. “Compromise is key when translating a Council objective into an actual work product,” she said. “You need to be extremely flexible.”
Looking ahead to Fanwood’s challenges in 2021, Ms. Harris sees crafting the budget as always being high on the list. Other challenges ahead will be selecting the new Police Director and opening the newly renovated Borough Hall to the public after being closed for over a year for COVID.
Until reopening, which is targeted for June 1st, the public may continue to do business with Borough Hall by telephone, email and, when appropriate, ZOOM or in-person by appointment. The relevant numbers and email addresses can be found at fanwoodnj.org. The main borough phone number is 908-322-8236.
Photo by Tom Kranz
