Mullica's Mayor Chris Silva

MULLICA TWP. - Mullica Mayor Christopher Silva ( R ) has spent his life in several different places before settling in the township about 15 years ago.
  His father was a career officer in the Air Force, which brought him to Washington, D.C., Hawaii, California and France before he ended up in New Jersey.  Silva's introduction to public service came from his career as a police officer and eventually a police captain in Little Egg Harbor.

  Silva said his career as a police captain gave him a valuable perspective of how municipal government operates, which later aided him as an elected official.
  "Being a police captain, I was always involved in the administration and in the function of government in various ways," Silva said.

  Slightly prior to retiring from the police department in 2003, Silva established Kova Corp, an international call center and public safety software that records radio frequencies and telephone calls for banks, insurance companies, 911 centers, brokerage houses and transportation authorities.
  Retirement also gave Silva the opportunity to volunteer his time with municipal government.  In Little Egg Harbor, he served as chairman of the municipal alliance committee.  During his time as chairman, Silva competitively pursued county grants to fund municipal programs.
  "We used to get some significant funding out of the county because of the innovation we brought to the program.  We did a lot of different things, different ideas, solved different problems with the municipal alliance," Silva said.

  Generating funding while on the municipal alliance committee created several beneficial services and functions for the community and allowed Silva to approach government with an innovative approach.
  " I got to do a lot of functions like that and looked at government innovatively rather than a cookie cutter approach.  If you look at what's out there and what you can do and try to innovate on it, sometimes, you have great success with it," Silva said.

  After moving to MullicaTwp., Silva joined the township's economic development committee and planning board before successfully running for mayor in 2014 and again in 2017.  ( Silva ran for Mullica Committee in 2014 & 2017.  He was elected Mayor on Jan. 1, 2018 by the Committee ).
  Entering his second term as mayor, ( first term as Mayor ) Silva said he is determined to encourage development and bring light commercial ratables to Mullica Twp. without compromising the character of the quaint, residential Pinelands community.

  " I don't want to change the complexion of the community because the charm of the community is being a residential area and being largely undeveloped.  But, there are areas we can try to attract some light businesses into, and I think that will help the town immensely if we're able to do that." Silva said.
  Silva also said he will continue to pursue grant money to improve the township's appeal to prospective businesses- an appeal that he said is quickly grasped upon arriving in Mullica Twp.
  "All you have to do is drive through and look around. it is so pristine, it's so well-preserved. there are areas of it that are just jaw-dropping beautiful and people love coming here," Silva said.

    As Hammonton's southeastern neighboring municipality, Silva said it will always be a priority to maintain strong working relationships with Hammonton and other nearby municipalities.
  "Whatever issues they face spill over and what we face spills over into their towns... So, it's extremely important to have good relationships with your neighbors...
Their problems are our problems and our problems are their problems.  We live in a very mobile community where people traverse the roads, and there's no passports needed to go from one town to the next," Silva said.

This article was written by Stephen Pistone, a Hammonton Gazette staff writer and can be found in the Hammonton Gazette print edition only, volume 22, Issue 8 dated February 21, 2018.
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