Macnow Continues a Lifetime of Public Service as Mayor

From volunteering for blood drives to serving on the first aid squad to becoming a Colts Neck Township Committeeman, Mayor Russell Macnow is no stranger to public service.

On Saturday, Macnow reached what he called the highest level of municipal public service when his fellow Township Committee members selected him to serve as mayor for 2014.

“I’ve been in public service since I was a kid,” the Marlboro native said Monday morning. “I started out volunteering for blood drives, and charity events, and joined the first aid squad when I was 15. I was just one of those people that was always involved in public service.”

Macnow was reelected to serve a three-year term on the committee in November and will serve as mayor until Dec. 31.

Macnow sits on the Long Range Planning, Earle Naval Base (General), Litigation Steering Committee, COAH (Council on Affordable Housing), Friends of the Library, County/State Government, The Grande Association, American Youth Football/Cheer,  Local/Regional Schools, and Recreation Committee. In addition, Committeeman James C. Schatz will serve as Deputy Mayor.

While he said the governing body’s job is made much easier given the level of professionals the township employs, there are certain things he and the committee are looking forward to working on in the coming year: the deer population, and increasing the ratable base.

“The deer issue has been kicking around Colts Neck for a couple years, I’m the third mayor looking at this,” he said. “It’s a fairly divisive issue. Folks feel action should be taken, and then there are others who are scared of the hunters. It’s a tough decision to deal with.”

Nonetheless, Mayor Macnow acknowledged that something must be done, even if it’s done on a state level and in conjunction with other municipalities.

“Although I think we need to do something on a local level, and I hope to be able to do something that’s reasonable and accommodating, ultimately I think it’s a statewide problem and will have to be dealt with on the state level. If you don’t, they’re just going to come back. There are no borders, no fences, they will always come back and repopulate.”

Mayor Macnow also wants to address township ratables. He said commercial ratables make up less then 6 percent of the tax base.

“I don’t nave a strong inclination as far as what types of businesses we’d like here,” he said. “My office is here, and we have good businesses here, but we only have a town of 10,000, so it’s difficult.”

Preferably, whatever plan the township comes up with will take advantage of traffic traveling through Colts Neck on major roads.

“We need viable businesses that will do well here. We need to generate tax revenue on one hand, and on the other hand provide services in town. There’s a lot of traffic going through here, and I’d like to see us make better use of that.”