The Alternative Press

MILLBURN, NJ - As a longtime resident of Millburn who has been involved in town politics for several years and raised three daughters in the community, there isn’t anyplace Mayor Sandy Haimoff would rather live.

Haimoff, who has resided in Millburn since she was 17, said the security and comfort in town have always made her feel at ease. The education and recreation departments are superb and helped her children grow up, she said.  

“I have to say that I found this community a very wonderful place to raise children,” Haimoff said.

She had extremely high praise for the fire and police departments, as well as the EMS. They all do an excellent job and provide the community with a great safety net, she said.

“I think our department of Public Works is probably one of the hardest working groups you can find,” she said. “It takes them all working together to make a community a community.”

Since a young age she always had the drive to educate and help others. She started teaching as a speech pathologist in Fairlawn and created the first speech therapy program for secondary schools in New Jersey.

As her kids got older, she “retired,” but she couldn’t stay out of the classroom for too long. She saw an advertisement for a part time speech therapist at Columbia High School and got the job. It eventually became a full time gig.  

She retired again three years ago, but still had numerous schools clamoring for her to work there. Since she loved her job, she now works two mornings a week at the Great Charter School of Newark.

While teaching and raising a family, she has been extremely active in the community. She was president of the Parent Teacher Association; a member of the board of education for 12 years and president for the last eight of those; served on the planning board, the board of adjustment, was the liaison to the environmental commission, served on the joint fields, in November she is running for her fourth term on the township committee. This is her fourth year as mayor.  

“If you really want to make a difference you have to be somewhere where your vote counts,” she said. “Without the volunteers we have in this town, nothing we do could be accomplished.”

Haimoff also helped started the Mayors Coalition on the Rahway River. She said the hope is to install dry basins in the South Mountain Reservation, which could help alleviate flooding problems in Millburn and towns downstream.

In looking back at her years in local politics, Haimoff said she doesn’t regret a thing. She and many other people helped the town grow and move in a positive direction, she said. One of the more important things they accomplished was maintaining the budget, she said.

“I think the township has been able to do things that have helped keep the budget from escalating,” Haimoff said.

As they proceed into the future, the biggest challenges are keeping the budget within the two percent cap without hurting their services and to continue to look for ways to share services, she said.