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List of directors of the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monmouth County, New Jersey, is governed by a Board of County Commissioners, who choose a director from among themselves. Prior to January 1, 2021, this position was known as the Board of Chosen Freeholders.
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Pursuant to legislation passed in 1709, freeholders sat with the justices of the peace as the Board of Justices and Freeholders; the presiding officer was then known as chairman. Chairmen of the Board of Justices and Freeholders are included here where records are still extant, as well as whether they were a justice or a freeholder.[1] Legislation passed in 1798 separated the freeholders and justices; at that time the Board of Chosen Freeholders was established. Before 1906, Monmouth County Freeholders were elected by townships; As a result of a 1905 referendum reducing the membership on the board, from 1906 to the present they have been elected at-large.
On August 21, 2020, "amid a national reckoning to reexamine vestiges of structural racism," Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill to change the name of county governing bodies. Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, an African-American woman who was once a Freeholder herself, said that the term "refers to a time when only white male landowners could hold public office." The law went into effect on January 1, 2021.[2][3]