The NJTPA’s immediate-past-Chair, former Morris County Commissioner Kathryn A. DeFillippo, was honored by the NJTPA Board of Trustees at its March 13, 2023 meeting. Commissioner DeFillippo retired last year after serving three terms as a county commissioner. She represented Morris County on the NJTPA Board since 2014 and was elected NJTPA Chair for the 2020-2021 term.
NJTPA Chair John W. Bartlett, a Passaic County Commissioner, and NJTPA Executive Director David Behrend presented former Commissioner DeFillippo with a framed resolution on behalf of the Board.
The Board resolution highlights former Commissioner DeFillippo’s “capable, confident, and collaborative leadership to meet the many challenges of a regional and global pandemic.” After just one in-person meeting as Chair in January 2020, Commissioner DeFillippo several weeks later helped guide the NJTPA as it pivoted to all-virtual operations.
“I am very proud of what this Board, and particularly our staff, was able to accomplish during a time when we were all trying to figure out how to make work happen,” said former Commissioner DeFillippo at the March 13 Board meeting. “My thank you is to the Board and the staff for everything you did to keep the NJTPA moving in the right direction.”
In his remarks, Chair Bartlett emphasized, “It really took a special kind of leadership and judgement to cope with all of [the pandemic’s] challenges.”
“Kathy moved our agency forward through adoption of an updated long-range plan; progress on the Morris Canal Greenway and other trails; ongoing critical investment in roads and bridges; and continued advocacy for safety,” he said.
NJTPA First Vice Chair John Kelly, an Ocean County Commissioner, commended the former chair for providing leadership and continuity through the pandemic and many virtual meetings, adding, “We didn’t get much of a chance to say ‘thank you;’ but now you’re here today, and we can all just say ‘thank you’ for your leadership during those difficult times.”
Even before former Commissioner DeFillippo’s term as NJTPA Chair, Behrend noted that she had been “a great advocate for the NJTPA, participating in public engagement events; just a very hands-on member of our Board and we always appreciated that.”
Morris County Commissioner Stephen Shaw, who succeeded former Commissioner DeFillippo on the NJTPA Board said, “I’m honored now to be sitting in her seat; I know I have very big shoes to fill.”
The NJTPA previously released a video,
posted on its YouTube channel, that also sums up former Commissioner DeFillippo’s service as NJTPA Chair.