Madison Democratic Committee (MDC) co-chairs, Alix Jennings and Christine Preston, announced that “following an extensive vetting process, MDC district representatives and elected officials voted to endorse Council member Rachel Ehrlich of Kings Road and long-time Madison volunteer Tom Haralampoudis of Pomeroy Road for the Democratic nomination for the Madison Borough Council.”
Two seats on the council are up for election on November 8, 2022. With the MDC endorsement, Ms. Ehrlich and Mr. Haralampoudis will appear together on the Morris County Democratic Committee, Inc. line on the June 7th Primary ballot.
Rachel Ehrlich is running for a second term on the council. A win in November would be Mr. Haralampoudis’s first election to a council seat.
“Councilmember Maureen Byrne will not be seeking a third term and Tom will be running for the seat she is vacating,” stated Ms. Jennings. “We thank Maureen for her six years of dedicated service on the council and her positive impact on the Madison community.”
In announcing her retirement, Councilmember Byrne said: “It has been a great privilege for me to have served the people of Madison through these extraordinary times. Our talented and committed Borough employees, along with the council, and Mayor Bob Conley have worked together to make Madison the ‘#1 Best Place to Live in New Jersey.’”
Byrne continued, “We all – town residents, local businesses, and borough government – have faced and met the challenges of unprecedented storms, major infrastructure repairs and a global pandemic. All the while the government has done the hard, day-to-day work to deliver the services our residents expect and deserve.
Finally, I need to thank the Borough’s many volunteers, who sit on numerous committees and donate their time to make Madison such a special place to live. Madison would not be the success it is without their generous contributions.”
Rachel Ehrlich is completing a busy first term on the Madison Borough Council. Prior to serving on the council, she was a member of the Madison Planning Board and served on the board’s Master Plan subcommittee. As a council member, she served on the Master Plan Ad Hoc Committee through the Master Plan’s adoption in December 2020.
Councilmember Ehrlich observed: “Together with the borough’s planning professionals and with significant input from the Madison public, we developed Guiding Principles that distilled important values and aspirations for Madison as an equitable, sustainable, healthy, resilient, and welcoming community. The principles of the 2020 Master Plan will guide the Borough for years to come, and I’m proud of what we accomplished.”
Ms. Ehrlich served as Council Liaison for Utilities and Council Liaison to Public Works and Engineering and was appointed to the 2021 Steering Committee on Affordable Housing where she advocated for high quality, contextual, and energy-efficient design for our municipally sponsored affordable housing development on Walnut Street and Community Place.
She is a licensed architect with 18 years of experience. Currently, she is an Associate Principal and Studio Director at Dattner Architects, a mid-sized architecture firm in New York. Her specialty is the design and construction of high-performance, energy efficient, affordable housing in New York City.
Ehrlich’s running mate, Tom Haralampoudis is a 30-year resident of Madison who believes that it’s not enough to just live in a town, but that “we all should be active contributors to the life of the community. I have volunteered through my entire life – scouting, working with outreach groups like the Morristown community soup kitchen, Interfaith food pantry and numerous functions with our Greek Church – I have made time to put others first. My first active volunteer group in Madison was and remains the Madison Rotary Club,” he stated.
Tom Haralampoudis is also a member of the Madison Public Library Board of Trustees, the Madison Board of Health, and is a board member for HQM, Inc. (formerly the Madison Housing Corporation). He is also president of the Madison Junior School Sports Program, a past chairman of the Madison Environmental Commission, served four years on the Madison Board of Education, and is a co-founder of the Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee.
Together with his brother, candidate Haralampoudis runs a family business, Lanca Sales, an export company that sells primarily U.S. manufactured foodservice disposables and janitorial products to 70 countries. He has a BA in Economics and an MBA in Marketing and Business Management. He is also a co-owner of the popular Bottle Hill Tavern on Waverly Place.
The two candidates concluded: “As we look to the future, we see that our borough government faces both opportunities and challenges. Rising fuel costs and pressure on municipal revenues require a deft hand at budgeting. The need to proactively reduce our carbon footprint creates challenges, but also opportunities for Madison to shine. Together, we believe that our records of accomplishment demonstrate that we have the knowledge, the skills and a commitment to the community that will help Madison meet these challenges and continue to be an example of a well-run, forward-looking municipality.”
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