Councilwoman Tapped to be Moorestown's First Female Mayor

In its long, illustrious history, Moorestown has never had a woman as mayor. That won’t be true for much longer.

Councilwoman Stacey Jordan is in line to take current Mayor John Button’s place at township council’s reorganization meeting on Jan. 7.

Councilman Chris Chiacchio, who ran with Jordan two years ago, said the councilwoman is more than qualified to hold the position, given her experience on council and previously, as a Burlington County freeholder.

“She interacts well with the township employees … She has deep community ties. She’s actively involved with Home & School. Politically, she’s been involved for a number of years,” he said. “She just seemed like a logical choice.”

According to Chiacchio, there was an “open dialogue” with the council members-elect——and all five came to the consensus that Jordan was the right woman for the job.

“There’s no party lines here,” said Chiacchio, noting Newcomer’s Democratic Party affiliation.

“Certainly Stacey has been on council and has the experience,” said Newcomer, who said he “absolutely” supported her selection as mayor.  

Though the significance of having a female mayor for the first time ever wasn’t lost on Garwood, he stressed, “I would support Stacey for mayor just on her own merits … She’s just been awesome in her tenure so far.”

Jordan—who served for one year as freeholder, filling out Dawn Addiego’s term after she left for the Assembly, and has been a Republican committeeperson for 18 years—said it was an “honor” for her colleagues to “have that trust in me.”

As for her place in history, as Moorestown’s first female mayor, she said, “It’s a long time coming. At the county and state we’ve had female leaders, even at the freeholder level. It’ll be neat to have that in Moorestown.”

But Jordan stressed she wouldn’t let the title go to her head, seeing it as mostly a “figurehead” type of role and many of the mayor’s responsibilities—ribbon cuttings, weddings—as “fluff stuff.”

“It’s a perk. It’s a neat thing. But it’s not why I got into public service,” she said, adding that even though the mayor’s term is two years, “I’ll probably after a year turn it over, because I want everybody to experience that.”

Jordan’s ascension to the mayor’s seat won’t become official of course until next month’s reorganization meeting. Assuming she’s selected, Jordan will be sworn in by Sen. Diane Allen at the reorganization meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, in the IT room at Moorestown High School. The three new council members will also be sworn in at the meeting.