By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Hosting the governor is not like hosting your aunt at Christmas time. You can’t just put out a nut log and a fruitcake and call it a day.
Evesham Township officials faced the challenging prospect last week of organizing the township for a trip from Gov. Chris Christie in less than five days. Basically, the governor doesn’t plan out scheduled “township meetings” months in advance, so Marlton found out about his Tuesday, May 10 visit late at night on Friday, May 6.
“I got a call Friday at 4 p.m. to say that we’ve been selected to do the town hall meeting. This is 4 p.m. Friday. I had dinner plans and a Phillies game that night, but quickly the governor’s office had an advance team in the area. We literally met up at the blue barn at approximately 4:45 to pick out the sites,” Mayor Randy Brown said.
The governor’s team and Brown visited the Gibson House, the Blue Barn, and Indian Spring Country club late Friday to see if the sites could be used for his visit. It was determined that the Blue Barn would be able to accommodate the 450 seats needed for the town hall meeting, Brown said.
Immediately, the township officials had to start organizing the details and logistics of the governor’s trip, Brown said. Police, fire, ambulances, and department of public works employees were needed to make sure the visit was smooth and Evesham would look its best.
“We held the meeting on Monday morning at 11 a.m. Held it with all of our logistics operations, such as the fire department, police, DPW, parks and recreation, and buildings and grounds. There were about 13 of us, it’s very similar to what we do for the Fourth of July,” Brown said. “We met at 11 a.m. and put the whole deal together of logistically how it would all go off.”
Because the town hall meeting was scheduled for 1 p.m. in the afternoon, Brown said no additional police officers or department of public works employees were brought in or paid overtime. The trip was completely tax neutral for the township, he said.
Brown said DPW employees were taken off of their regular day’s schedule to make sure the area around the Blue Barn was clean and the grass was cut. Police officers and the governor’s own security detail made sure the area was secure for his visit.
“We made sure that we had to create an environment in which it was safe for everyone to come. The credit goes to our law enforcement and the planning that went into creating an amazingly safe environment,” Brown said.
The meeting was packed, with almost 500 people packed into the Blue Barn. All 450 seats were filled, he said, and there was a standing room only crowd listening to Christie as well.
“When I heard he was doing town hall meetings, I contacted my contact in the governor’s staff. I said, ‘When you’re putting a list together, let me know about moving forward to have Evesham be a possible destination.’ As the months went by, he was doing more and more of these and that’s when I ramped up communication. We’re the largest town in the county and also the largest republican town in the county, so why not us?” Brown said. “The governor’s office told me that one of the main reasons we were chosen was because we represent what the governor is looking for. Holding the line on taxes, creating community, and having a great school district.”
