Editing Cranford, New Jersey (section)

=== Local government ===
[[File:Cranford NJ building and firetruck and intersection.jpg|thumb|right|Scene near downtown]]
[[File:CranfordNJSummerEvening.jpg|alt=Town center and clock|thumb|The town clock at twilight in downtown Cranford]]
Cranford is governed under the [[Township (New Jersey)|Township]] form of New Jersey municipal government, one of 141 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form, the second-most commonly used form of government in the state.<ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/inventory_of_municipal_forms_of_government_in_new_jersey.pdf ''Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey''], [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The Township Committee is comprised of five members, who are elected directly by the voters [[at-large]] in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 94.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=7 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 7. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref>

The Committee members elect a chairman of the committee who assumes the title of [[Mayor]] and another who is selected as [[Deputy Mayor]]. Both positions carry one-year terms. Four of the committee members take on departmental oversight assignments as Commissioner of Finance, Commissioner of Public Safety, Commissioner of Public Works and Engineering, and Commissioner of Public Affairs. The [[List of Mayors of Cranford, New Jersey|Mayor of Cranford]] does not take on a departmental assignment. The Township Committee is a part-time body and the township government is run on a day-to-day basis by the township administrator and various department heads.<ref name=Administrator /><ref name=Committee /> The chief of police is Ryan Greco,<ref>[https://www.cranfordnj.org/cranford-police-department Cranford Police Department], Cranford, New Jersey. Accessed July 4, 2023.</ref> the township administrator is Lavona Patterson,<ref name=Administrator /> and the township clerk is Patricia Donahue.<ref name=Clerk />

{{As of|2025}}, members of the Cranford Township Committee are Mayor Terrence Curran ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]], term on committee ends 2026; term as mayor ends December 31, 2025), Deputy Mayor Paul A. Gallo (D, term on committee ends 2026; term as deputy mayor ends 2025), Brian Andrews (D, 2026), Gina Black ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]], 2027), and Kathleen Miller Prunty (D, 2025).<ref name=Committee>[https://www.cranfordnj.org/township-committee Township Committee], Township of Cranford. Accessed January 12, 2025.</ref><ref name=UnionOfficials>[https://unioncountyvotes.com/elected-officials/ Elected Officials], [[Union County, New Jersey]]. Accessed January 12, 2025.</ref><ref name=Union2024>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Union/122834/web.345435/#/summary General Election November 5, 2024 Official Results], [[Union County, New Jersey]], updated November 22, 2024. Accessed January 12, 2025.</ref><ref name=Union2023>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Union/119032/web.317647/#/summary General Election November 7, 2023 Official Results], [[Union County, New Jersey]], updated November 22, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024.</ref><ref name=Union2022>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Union/116135/web.303253/#/summary General Election November 8, 2022 Official Results], [[Union County, New Jersey]], updated November 21, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.</ref>

In June 2023, the township committee appointed Paul Gallo to fill the seat expiring in December 2023 that had been held by Jason Gareis until he resigned from office.<ref>Glackin, Jennifer. [https://www.tapinto.net/towns/cranford/sections/government/articles/cranford-township-committee-names-commissioner-s-replacement-new-deputy-mayor "Cranford Township Committee Names Commissioner's Replacement, New Deputy Mayor"], [[TAPinto]] Cranford, June 21, 2023. Accessed July 4, 2023. "At its meeting Tuesday evening, the Cranford Township Committee unanimously voted in a replacement for former Commissioner Jason Gareis, who recently resigned to take a position at the Union County Prosecutor's office. Paul Gallo, one of the three names put forth by the Cranford Democratic Committee last week, has been appointed to the Township Committee."</ref>

==== Women in elected office ====
[[File:Tree near lake in Nomahegan Park in NJ.jpg|thumb|Tree in [[Rahway River Parkway|Nomahegan Park]] across from [[Union College (New Jersey)|Union College]]]]
[[File:River with reflections of trees autumn in Cranford New Jersey.JPG|thumb|[[Rahway River Parkway|Nomahegan Park]]]]
Through 2022, a total of 12 women have been elected to the Cranford Township Committee, and four women have served as Mayor of Cranford. Barbara Brande was the first woman elected to the Township Committee and the first woman mayor of the township. Mayor Brande was elected to the Township Committee in 1974 and reelected in 1977, serving a total of six years. She was Mayor of Cranford in 1977. Carolyn Vollero, who served the longest length of time for a woman on the Township Committee—nine years—was Cranford's second female Mayor in 1994. Barbara Bilger, the township's third female mayor in 2002 and 2004, was also the first woman to serve two terms as the township's mayor. Mayor Bilger is the first Republican woman to serve as a township commissioner and as mayor.

Union County Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski is a Cranford resident and the first woman from Cranford to be elected to the [[Board of Chosen Freeholders|Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders]]. Freeholder Kowalski was an unsuccessful candidate for Cranford Township Committee in 1999 and served as Union County Freeholder Chairwoman in 2007 and 2019.

Female township commissioners include:
*Barbara Brande ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]) – 1975 to 1980 (Mayor in 1977)
*Sandy Weeks (Democrat) – 1982 to 1984
*Mary Lou Farmer (Democrat) – 1984 to 1986
*Carolyn Vollero (Democrat) – 1988 to 1996 (Mayor in 1994, Deputy Mayor in 1993)
*Barbara Bilger ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]) – 1990 to 1992, 2002 to 2004 and Sept. 2015 to Nov. 2015 (Mayor in 2002 & 2004, Deputy Mayor in 1992 & 2003)
*Ann Darby (Republican) – 2003 to 2005 (Deputy Mayor in 2004)
*Martha Garcia (Republican) – 2008 to 2010 (Deputy Mayor in 2010)
*Lisa Adubato (Republican) – 2012 to Aug. 2015 (Deputy Mayor in 2014 and 2015 (part))
*Mary O'Connor (Republican) – 2014 to present (Deputy Mayor in 2015 (part) and 2016)
*Ann Dooley (Democrat) – 2016 to 2019 (Deputy Mayor in 2018 and 2019)
*Kathleen Miller Prunty (Democrat) – 2020 to present (Deputy Mayor 2020, Mayor 2021–2022)
*Gina Black (Republican) – 2022 to present