EMERSON—A longtime councilwoman who resigned effective Aug. 31 was recognized for her commitment to the town at the Aug. 19 Borough Council meeting.
Jill McGuire, who served nearly seven years on council, and as volunteer and chair of the local historic preservation committee for two years, was honored by the mayor and council with a plaque and flowers for her public service.
McGuire resigned in an Aug. 8 letter, citing a pending move from the area.
She served most lately as liaison to the school board and Shade Tree Commission and a liaison to Technology/Social Media, Auxiliary Police, and Office of Emergency Management.
According to state law, three nominees will come from the Republican county committee within 15 days of her vacancy, and within 30 days, the council must select one of the nominees. Should the council fail to select a new councilor, then the Republican county committee can choose a replacement.
McGuire’s term ends Dec. 31. She was not running for reelection. Serving on the council are its president, Nicole Argenzia, and members Megan Ciolino, Jill McGuire, Ashley Rice, Ashley Sayers, and Michael Timmerman.
“I’m honored to stand alongside you as we reflect on your many years of service to Emerson,” Mayor Danielle DiPaola told McGuire during a short ceremony honoring her at the meeting.
DiPaola, filled with evident emotion, told McGuire that when she was elected mayor, the council knew “there was no better choice than Jill to serve on the council because of her integrity, courage and unwavering commitment to Emerson.”
DiPaola said she had “nothing but the utmost respect” for McGuire, and thanked her for being in the audience for years before she joined the council, and speaking up and encouraging DiPaola when DiPaola was a lone voice on the Borough Council [pushing against the now-long-idled, and litigation-trussed, Emerson Station mixed-use project on Kinderkamack between Lincoln and Linwood, for example. — Ed.].
She said McGuire had always been for government transparency and against overdevelopment, and fought hard on the preservation committee to preserve Borough Hall from the wrecking ball.
“Emerson is a better community for your service and on behalf of our 7,251 residents, thank you, we will miss you, my friend,” said the mayor.
Noting she had lived in Emerson for 19 years, and served on council for seven years, McGuire spoke, her voice choked with emotion. “It’s been a great experience. This place is far more than a place to live. It’s definitely home and the ‘family town’,” McGuire said, noting they did not know of the community’s ‘family town’ moniker before moving here. She added, “for our family, it will always be the ‘family town’.”
She said in Emerson she got to volunteer at school events, with Parents For Athletes, and on the Historic Preservation Committee.
She said the preservation committee “was very close to my heart” where she met like-minded Emersonians “who believed that this place [Borough Hall], this building, matters.”
McGuire helped push for Borough Hall’s preservation due to a historic Works Project Administration mural painted long ago inside the building.
“There’s a lot of beautiful places in Emerson and we have to take care of them. It’s part of our history,” she said.
She also worked on efforts to save the 250-year-old DeBaun House, though that building was deemed structurally unsound, with mold and water damage, and taken down to make way for four affordable apartments for veterans.
She said serving on the council “has been a great honor” and noted that councilmembers and the mayor, “all have the same commitment to Emerson like I do.” She said being on the council “deepened my connection to the community and gave me the opportunity to give back.”
She said she will look back on her time in Emerson “with pride and definite fondness and we will miss Emerson, my children and myself, and I’ll always love Emerson; it will always be our home.”
A place in local history
In 2022, Mayor Danielle DiPaola and many others delighted in an observation at the 118th Annual Reorganization Meeting where new council members were sworn in following 2021 victories.
“There’s one thing I would like to point out this evening, which is a historic moment in the Borough of Emerson: For the first time in history, there are four women who were elected by the voters of Emerson sitting on the governing body,” said DiPaola — including herself in that list.
DiPaola said, “In 2018 Emerson made history by electing its first female mayor. In 2019 for the first time, Emerson elected two women [then-Council President Jill McGuire and member Nicole Argenzia] at the same time to the council. And … in 2021 the voters of Emerson elected the fourth female member [Kelly Moore] to the governing body, and here we are today.”