Red Bank Commissioner-elect Hollie Berry told the Times Free Press after her race in November that she planned to make good on the ideas she discussed with voters.
She mentioned a new park, no-cost library cards, safer pedestrian and bicycle routes, and the support of independent, locally owned businesses. She didn’t mention replacing the prayer that opened city council meetings with a moment of silence.
“Now, with a landslide victory,” Berry said, “I have a mandate to carry out the plans and ideas I shared with my many wonderful neighbors.”
On Dec. 2, her fellow commissioners elected her mayor. At the next meeting, she opened proceedings by asking those present to observe a moment of silence. Previously, a commissioner had led an invocation prayer.
That didn’t sit well with some of her fellow commissioners and some Red Bank residents, though others thought it was a welcome change.