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Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher speaks at the annual reorganization meeting of Township Council.

When Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher spoke at the annual Township Council reorganization meeting on Monday evening he said one of the town's greatest ills soon will be cured — the Route 70 rebuild.

"That project is slated to be completed by this summer," Fleisher told Council and a room full of visiting politicians, local government leaders and residents. "We know that this project has impacted our residents and our businesses."

For more than four years the $152-million reconstruction of 8.8 miles of the state road that is the backbone of Cherry Hill has slowed drivers to a crawl and left businesses feeling stranded because of limited access.

At the reorganization, Council member William Carter was reelected as Council president by his colleagues. Council member Michele Golkow was elected vice president. 

Sworn in as a Council member was Rob Connor, a Cherry Hill native who "lives just four homes from where he grew up and only one block from the house his grandparents built after moving from Camden in 1958," according to his Council biography. He replaces Carole Roskoph, who decided not to run for reelection and retired in December.

Besides Connor, other Democrats elected to Council last November were Carter, Sangeeta Doshi and Jill Hulnick.

Mayor Fleisher opened his speech with a reference to the chaos of national politics.

"Despite the erosion of civility at the national or even state level in politics, we are proud that with the help of our residents that we are proving here in Cherry Hill that government can be both competent and compassionate at the same time," Fleisher said.

"We're also learning that democracy is perhaps more fragile than we once thought, so your presence here tonight, supporting your local government and its residents, is more meaningful and more relevant than ever," he said.

Fleisher said residents have said the most important areas to focus on are public safety, open spaces, parks, road improvement and fiscal accountability.

In 2026, parks in the neighborhoods of Kingston, Erlton South and Barclay Farm are scheduled for improvement. More than 20 miles of roads in the town will be upgraded and repaired this year, he added.

The reorganization meeting named the vendors and consultants the Township will use in the coming year, including the appointments of:

  • Civil Solutions, a division of ARH Associates Inc., to maintain digital tax maps and GIS services
  • Brown & Connery LLP as labor attorney
  • Bowman & Company LLP as auditor
  • DeMichele & DeMichele PC as public defender and Rosenberg Perry & Associates LLC as alternate/conflict public defender
  • Remington & Vernick as consulting municipal engineer
  • DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin LLP and Maley Givens PC to a pool of redevelopment attorneys
  • Burgis Associates Inc. as affordable housing planner
  • Eisner & Fowler as tax appeal attorney and DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin LLP as conflict tax appeal attorney
  • CME Associates, Colliers Engineering & Design Inc., Dynamic Traffic LLC, Environmental Resolutions Inc., French & Parrello Assoc. PA, Paulus Scokolowski & Sartor (PS&S), Pennoni Associates Inc. and Taylor Wiseman & Taylor (TWT) to a pool of special projects engineers
  • McManimon, Scotland & Baumann LLC as bond counsel
  • Conner Strong & Buckelew Companies Inc. as risk manager
  • Wade, Long, Wood & Long LLC as special counsel
  • V-Comm LLC as telecommunications consultant
  • Moustakas Nelson LLC as rent control attorney and Zeller & Wieliczko LLP as alternate/conflict rent control attorney
  • DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin LLP as environmental counsel
  • Surenian, Edwards, Buzak & Nolan LLC; Zeller & Wieliczko LLP; Malamut & Associates and Maley Givens PC as a pool of affordable housing attorneys
  • Gabel Associates Inc. as sustainability consultant
  • CGP&H LLC as administrative agent and affordability assistance program services
  • Triad Associates as management and consultant for Community Development Block Grant programs from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • Koutsouris & Gomolson LLC as chief municipal prosecutor and Robert K. Uyehara Jr. LLC and Madden & Tufano LLC as municipal prosecutors
  • Clarke Caton Hintz, HMR Architects and Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor to a pool of historic property architects/engineers
  • Complete Control Services Inc. for design, installation and maintenance of supervisory control and data acquisition and process control systems
  • Acacia Financial Group Inc. as municipal financial advisor
  • Burgis Associates Inc., CME Associates, Environmental Resolutions Inc. and Pennoni Associates Inc. to a pool of special projects planners
  • Brown & Connery LLP, DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin LLP; Gorman, D'Anella & Molok LLC; Moustakas Nelson; Murphy Orlando LLC and Zeller & Wieliczko LLP to a pool of special projects/conflict attorneys