Firefighter Sidney Marks (middle) poses with the proclamations he received from the township committee and Gloucester County Commissioners.
The township committee recognized a veteran firefighter with decades of experience and swore in two new police officers during its meeting on July 14.
A proclamation went to Sidney Marks for his 50 years of community service as part of the Mantua Fire District. He began there in 1975 at the age of 33, which makes him the fire district’s longest-serving member.
“During his decades of service,” said Mayor Robert Zimmerman, “Sidney Marks has held various important roles, including serving as the safety officer, where he helped ensure the well-being of his fellow firefighters on constant emergency scenes. He now leads the fire-police unit, continuing to contribute his knowledge, leadership and steady presence on the front lines of the community protection.”
Marks is also a regular at the township’s senior dinners and has a close relationship with the mayor and several members of the police and fire departments, prompting some subtle jokes during the proclamation presentation.
“Gloucester County has 300,000 people,” noted Gloucester County Commissioner Deputy Director Jim Jefferson as he addressed Marks at the meeting, “and anytime that I speak on behalf of the residents of Gloucester County, it’s a great honor. But this is a big deal to honor and recognize your service to your community.
“You’re somebody who gives of themselves.”
The new Mantua police officers are Brenden Hiatt and Joshua Cummings, both recent graduates of the Gloucester County Police Academy. As their families looked on, Police Chief Darren White talked about the men and offered insight into police selection process.
“He (Hiatt) performed very well throughout the selection process, and we sent him to the academy initially as a Class 2 officer,” said White. “However, anytime the captain or I spoke to the police academy director, he kept telling us how well (Hiatt) was doing in the police academy, which was unusual.”
“And then Josh,” he added of Cummings, “we’ve known for a while. It was the same thing for him. Anytime we spoke with the academy director, he just kept saying how good he was doing and couldn’t understand how we could find two good candidates and other towns are having a really hard time finding just one.”
Committeeman Jason Snyder, a former police administrator, also talked about the new officers after they were sworn in.
“I have a lot of close relationships with the academy staff,” he explained, “including the academy director, deputy director and some former co-workers of mine who all had the same thing to say of our officers when they were in the academy in how well they were performing and how great of an asset they’ll be to our department.
“It was an easy decision for us to make.”
The next Mantua committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11.
