After Tuesday night's Township Council reorganization meeting, incoming Mayor David Fleisher, left, with the new Township Council President, William Carter III.
David Fleisher says he waited 18 years to hand the gavel of Cherry Hill Township Council president to someone else — and the incoming mayor did just that on Tuesday night as Council members elected William Carter III to be their president.
Democrat Fleisher, a Cherry Hill native and graduate of its school system who was the youngest member ever elected to Council when he was 27, was elected mayor in the November election and sworn in on Tuesday, January 2. Former Mayor Susan Shin Angulo did not receive the support of Cherry Hill Democrats for reelection and did not run.
"Our neighborhoods indeed are our greatest strength here in Cherry Hill," Fleisher told a packed Township Council chamber filled with friends, supporters, family members and residents.
He spoke of three pillars in his administration: fiscal responsibility, delivering to neighborhoods and everything that makes the Township special, such as parks and open spaces.
One of his first duties as mayor will be to execute the $3,859,000 purchase of the former Holly Ravine farm at Springdale and Evesham roads for permanent open space. The owners of the property had planned to sell to a developer of a senior housing complex and Fleisher and other Township officials worked to persuade them to preserve the property.
In his last term on Council, Fleisher showed an eagerness to listen to neighborhood concerns and played a leading role in scrutinizing plans for a Super Wawa at Barclay Farm shopping plaza and in pushing through a new ordinance that requires developers to account for every tree they plan to remove and make arrangements for new trees either by planting or paying into the Township's tree fund for plantings elsewhere. The Wawa plans were dropped.
The former president of student government at Beck Middle School vowed fiscal management. "My administration will always have a sharp eye on the bottom line," he said at his swearing in.
New Cherry Hill Township Mayor David Fleisher is sworn in by former Mayor Susan Bass Levin, left, at Township Council's reorganization meeting on Tuesday, January 2. Fleisher said he was introduced to Bass Levin 29 years ago by his wife, Jennifer Fleisher, right, who, as of December 31, resigned her seat on the Cherry Hill Board of Education because her husband was becoming mayor.
Incumbent Council members Michele Golkow and Jennifer Apell, who were reelected in November, were also sworn in. Golkow was elected Council vice president on Tuesday evening.
Fleisher announced two senior appointments to his administration:
- Council member Brian Bauerle will step down and become the mayor's chief of staff. Bauerle now is a vice president at the Camden Community Partnership, a leading nonprofit in the City of Camden that works closely with the city administration.
- Lawyer Cosmas Diamantis, who has been praised by residents for his work with neighborhoods as director of community development, will become Cherry Hill's municipal attorney. Before he joined Township government in 2020, Diamantis worked as a lawyer in a private practice. He also will serve as interim community development director until a successor is found.
Erin Knoedler continues as business administrator, a job she has held for the last year after working as deputy Township administrator for Evesham Township and, earlier, as director of operations for Union City.
Tracie Kniaz will be director of community engagement and constituent services for the Township. She has worked in local government and community volunteer organizations. "She will play a central role in ensuring that the Township is responsive and accountable to its residents," according to a statement from Fleisher.
With Fleisher's election as mayor and Bauerle's resignation, the Township now must appoint two new members to Township Council.
Council President Carter was a member of the Township Planning Board, a position he still holds, when he was named in June 2020 to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Carolyn Jacobs. Carter ran in the November 2020 general election and won 63% of the vote over Republican challenger Nancy Feller O'Dowd.
Carter, a 30-year Cherry Hill resident who lives in the Surrey Place East neighborhood, also has served as a member of the Cherry Hill Board of Education and the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment.
A member of the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, he is principal of W3C Associates, a consulting firm serving commercial and residential clients. He previously led projects in the construction industry.
