File photo Sheena Collum was elected to the executive board of the NJ League of Municipalities.
Sheena Collum was elected to the executive board of the NJ League of Municipalities.
Sheena Collum, village president of South Orange, was elected to serve on the executive board of the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
Collum has been a volunteer with the League for a while and as member, she will help lead the association of New Jersey’s 564 municipal governments. She was chosen at the League’s annual meeting late last year in Atlantic City to represent the interests and needs of New Jersey’s locally elected officials to county, state, and federal governments.
Collum, who is the equivalent of mayor in South Orange and may assume that title soon if the village is allowed to change its charter, studied at Seton Hall University, where she got a degree in political science and a master’s in public administration.
Professionally, she works as executive director of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Right now, Collum’s focus for South Orange is its Master Plan that was adopted at the end of 2021. Current capital projects, redevelopment and development projects include:
Complete renovation of the Baird Community Center on Mead Street;
The South Orange Public Library plans to create a 21st Century library including restoration of the historic Connett building, renovating the existing Library and linking the two buildings; Drainage improvements in Grove Park to mitigate ongoing drainage issues;
The River Greenway Project—working to create a Greenway along the East Branch of the Rahway River, running from West Montrose Avenue to Maplewood;
Repaving roads in South Orange Village.
“We’re hoping to break ground soon” on the library renovation, Collum said.
She also feels it’s wonderful to see the Baird Community Center capital project come to fruition.
Collum was born in Flemington and moved to Alabama during her elementary school years. She went to high school in Mississippi, then returned to New Jersey to attend college at Seton Hall.
“I like the diversity of New Jersey so much better,” she expressed. “It shares more of my values.”
This was a realization Collum came to in her teens, she said.
Over the next four years as Village President, Collum explained that there are more than $5 million worth of projects, and ahead of schedule on affordable housing projects.
Collum is excited about South Orange pursuing an agreement with NJ Transit to redevelop more parking.
“It would help advance our River Greenway Project,” she said.
While Collum doesn’t have much free time, she considers everything she does fun.
“I love being with our residents and our business community,” she shared. She also loves golf, her Korean Supper Club, and playing Scrabble which is her favorite game. “My grandmother taught it to me when I was super young,” she said.
Collum also has a Maltipoo dog named “Democracy.”
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