(Derrick A Scott)
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Washington DC January 30, 2023
Jamaican-born Elsie Foster is the new mayor of the Borough of Highland Park, in Middlesex County, New Jersey. She was elected during a special Borough Council meeting on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.
Foster, the council president who had been serving as the acting mayor since the start of the year, was elected mayor by the council and will serve in the position until the end of 2023. She replaces former Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler who resigned on December 31.
Foster, who hails from Deeside in Trelawny, has some 22 years of service on the Borough Council and over that time has served on all the Council’s committees. She served as Borough Council President for eight years and acting Mayor for several months.
She was one of three candidates the Highland Park Democratic Committee nominated to fill the remaining year of the mayor’s term. The other two nominees were Councilmen Phil George and Matthew Hersh.
Hersh was elected to serve as Borough Council president, which was vacated when Foster was elected as mayor. Foster and Hersh were sworn into their respective new roles by Borough Attorney Ed Schmierer.
The new Highland Park Mayor has identified safety, affordability, and downtown development as among her priorities in the time she has remaining to serve as Mayor.
In her remarks following her election, Mayor Foster said “I’m complimented by the confidence my colleagues on the Council have placed in me.
I look forward to working with them and with the residents to improve on the affordability, sense of community, and opportunities in our town,” Foster said after she was selected as mayor.
Among the issues most pressing for residents is the March closing of the Stop & Shop supermarket on Raritan Avenue. Last year Stop & Shop announced the company would not be renewing the store’s lease following a review of operating performance.
Hersh, the New Council President noted that “Strong public and administrative leadership is what we need now. We need to build and leverage community relationships to establish trust and allyship through transparency, engagement, and equity.”
He thanked his council colleagues for their support for him as Council President and congratulated Mayor Foster,” on her election.
Last month former Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler, who had served as mayor since 2014, announced she was resigning with a year left on her term to spend more time with her family, including her three grandchildren.
Mayor Elsie Foster is the President and CEO of Aunt Elsie’s Homestays, an International Student Housing organization. She is also the Legislative Liaison to the State of New Jersey Civil Service Commission and a founding partner of JamPhil Consultants, LLC
