PRESTIGOUS AWARD SPEAKS VOLUMES ON THE OVERALL TEAM IN POINT PLEASANT ACCORDING TO MAYOR

Borough of Point Pleasant – The New Jersey Municipal Management Association (NJMMA) is an organization of professional government administrators and managers representing 565 municipalities across the State whose goal is to improve the quality of local government in New Jersey through professional management.  The NJMMA works closely with the Rutgers University Center for Government Services and the New Jersey League of Municipalities to accomplish this goal. The Association and its affiliates create an information network offering the free flow of ideas thereby enhancing each member’s ability to deal with the problems and pressures of the profession.

Because of the pandemic the NJMMA Awards Ceremony this year was held virtually on December 17th in lieu of the normal ceremony that would have taken place at the annual New Jersey League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City.  For the 4th time in as many years, the Borough of Point Pleasant received a major state-wide award, this time honoring Mayor Robert A. Sabosik as the New Jersey Elected Official of the Year.  Previously, the NJMMA honored The Ocean Star Newspaper with their “Press Award”, Borough CFO Himanshu Shah with their “Distinguished Service Award” and honored Borough Administrator Frank Pannucci Jr. with the “Best New Professional to Local Government Award.”

According to Borough Administrator Frank Pannucci Jr., “This may be the most important award the Association honors someone with and out of 565 municipalities in New Jersey, I’m very happy that it went to our own Mayor Sabosik.  Nominees for this award are an elected official or group of elected officials who have consistently supported professional government management and who support the career development of their municipal staff.  Without someone competent like Mayor Sabosik leading the community, the professional staff cannot accomplish anything.  With Mayor Sabosik and our Borough Council Members, we have had a number of great successes over these last few years because of the clear vision they have for our community.  We have had our bond rating raised twice in four years, paved a record number of roads, installed new sidewalks, stabilized the municipal portion of taxes, renovated our beaches, parks and playgrounds and have consistently been voted the best place to live in Ocean County and recognized as one of the safest communities in the entire State of New Jersey.  On top of that, Mayor Sabosik believes in good management and continually encourages staff at Borough Hall to take educational courses that will directly help employees accomplish their tasks for the benefit of our residents.  Additionally, the Mayor was recognized for his balanced approach at dealing with the pandemic this year ranging from internal policies to keep the employees and public safe, to how we operated our recreational facilities and how he took the lead along with other Ocean County Mayors to stand up for small businesses everywhere.  Every year is challenging in municipal government, but this year was especially hard and I’m grateful we had Mayor Sabosik to lead us through it.”

According to Mayor Sabosik, “I am deeply honored to receive this award.  I have grown to admire and respect the NJMMA and their Executive Board over my two terms as Mayor.  They have proven to be an invaluable source of information and offer excellent guidance that both elected officials and government professionals can and should take advantage of.  I know some of the names throughout the State that have been honored with this award in the past, and to be in that category of public servants is truly humbling.  I have to say though that this award is really a reflection of our team.  The Borough Council and I work well together along with our professional staff and as a group have come up with policies, projects and protocols that are able to help us with our mission of making Point Borough the best that it can be. I have always said that the most important part of our job as elected officials is to promote and develop the professional staff and fine tune the policies of the Borough’s municipal operations so that future generations can benefit from a well-run community.  So much has gone into this team’s success … our partnership and working relationships with the Chamber of Commerce and school system, our interactions and support of charitable and service organizations and of course supporting our superb Police, First Aid and Fire Departments along with our top notch municipal employees from Public Works, Recreation and throughout Borough Hall … we’ve developed a culture where our employees and volunteers care about the publics’ needs … it all comes together, all parts equally important for our overall success.  I say this all the time, but I truly believe that there is no better place to be than The Boro.”