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Village President Torpey: The State of the Village is strong because the community is strong. With over 100 village officials and community leaders in attendance, Village President Torpey delivered his 2015 State Of The Village address Monday evening. Recounting accomplishments of the past year, he lauded what he considered the “truly remarkable” success of the current governing body and community members for rising above divisiveness that in the past had stood in the way of progress, creating a real collaborative political and civic environment that exists in very few places and has helped drive so much of the Village’s success that was discussed throughout the evening. Before beginning, Torpey noted the difference between talking about the “village,” which he called the institution of the government, versus the “Village,” representing the larger concepts, culture and community around government, making sure the “State of the Village” wasn’t just a recount of the performance of the institution of the Village government, but rather a holistic discussion and evaluation of the entire environment in which new ideas get discussed and codified into laws in South Orange. Torpey led with the importance of transparency in government, and discussed not just steps the Village has taken...

From Seton Hall's student newspaper The Setonian: In the fall semester of last year, Seton Hall launched a new course, Strategic Management for Collaborative Governance, offered to students seeking their Master’s degree in public administration. The course is taught by Dr. Matthew Hale, Associate Professor and MPA Program Chair for the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs, and Alex Torpey, president of South Orange Village and now also adjunct professor of government and technology at Seton Hall. Dr. Hale reached out to Torpey with the idea for the course after they met at an event on campus last year.    Read more at The Setonian.

Due to weather the 2015 State Of The Village was postponed and has been rescheduled to Monday, February 23rd at 8:30pm in the loft at SOPAC.   The State of the Village is required - in writing - to be provided to the Board each year, however, I began holding a physical ceremony with a report to the Board and to the public after I was elected in 2011, hoping to instill a sense of tradition and help bring the community together around our progress and our challenges. Updates will include a recap of the past year and upcoming work to reduce municipal spending and property taxes, reduce crime, increase economic development and ratables in the Village, encourage sustainable practices, and continue to break ground in transparency, technology and citizen engagement. Join us as we celebrate the achievements of hard working public servants and lay out a vision for not just the future of the Village, but the future of innovation in local governance. RSVP to Cathy Cameron at [email protected] or 973 378 7715 extension 2. The address will also be viewable online live and on SOMAtv.    

Village President Alex Torpey announced today that the 2015 State of the Village Address will take place Tuesday January 27th 2015 in the Loft on the Third Floor of the South Orange Performing Arts Center. The State of the Village is required - in writing - to be provided to the Board each year, however, President Torpey believes holding a physical ceremony with a report to the Board and to the public instills a sense of tradition and helps bring the community together around our progress and our challenges. President Torpey's updates will include a recap of the past year and upcoming work to reduce municipal spending and property taxes, reduce crime, increase economic development and ratables in the Village, encourage sustainable practices, and continue to break ground in transparency, technology and citizen engagement. Join us as we celebrate the achievements of hard working public servants and lay out a vision for not just the future of the Village, but the future of innovation in local governance. RSVP to Cathy Cameron at [email protected] or 973 378 7715 extension 2. The address will also be viewable online live and on SOMAtv.  

Check out my piece from last month, on why we need more people who are of the entrepreneur mindset to run for office. Let me know what you think!

Last night was the last class of the semester for Strategic Management Collaborative Governance, the class at Seton Hall University I've been co-teaching with Professor Dr. Matt Hale. If you remember from the beginning of the semester, the idea of the class was to provide future public managers and leaders with both a conceptual and practical understanding of how government, especially local government, works, and how the institutions can be improved by approaching it with a different mindset, one with a heavy focus on accessibility, innovation and technology. The students performed brilliantly.Below are a few tweets that I sent out as the students made their final presentations as they each were assigned a town and tried to get one local ordinance passed, many from The Citizens Campaign best practice model ordinances. The students brought some incredibly valuable lessons to the class, both from good and bad experiences trying to get something done in local government.    Our @SetonHall Master's students presenting trying to pass @CitizenCampaign ordinances this semester. @NJpoliticsprof pic.twitter.com/8aoiDyJurV — Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014 Lots of students saying they were passed btw many departments/people trying to get their ordinances passed #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof — Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9,...

I had the distinct pleasure to join Garrett Graff from POLITICO, and Mayor Andy Berke of Chattanooga, Brenna Berman, the CIO for the City of Chicago, Mayor Helene Schneider of Santa Barbara on a panel talking about technology innovation in cities. The event was part of POLITICO's What Works Summit. Click below for the video!    

This is reposted from Veracity's website, find your polling place using the handy dandy tool below! (Or contact me in South Orange, and I'll drive you to the polls).