William J. Chegwidden
Freeholder Director

William J. Chegwidden will again lead the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2012 as its director. Chegwidden was selected by his colleagues to that post for the second year in a row.

Chegwidden is in third year his second three-year term on the board, having been elected freeholder in November 2006. He is a Wharton resident who has been mayor of that community since 2001. His municipal experience dates back to 1995 when he was a member of the Wharton Planning Board. He also served as a borough councilman in Wharton from 1996 to 2001.

As director, Chegwidden is an ex-officio member of all of the county government’s committees and boards, but he will concentrate on the Insurance Commission and being freeholder liaison to the Morris County Improvement Authority.

The Improvement Authority in 2011 completed an innovative renewable energy project called the Morris Model. Several county government facilities and 14 school buildings in five public school districts have had solar panels installed on their roofs at no out-of-pocket cost to them, with the energy savings projected at $3.8 million over 15 years.

The second phase of this award-winning program is underway in 2012, with greater savings projected for the Chapter two participants.

During his tenure on the board Chegwidden has been a member of the Freeholder Budget Committee and the Board of School Estimate for the County College of Morris and the Morris County School of Technology. He has also served as freeholder liaison to the Department of Public Works, the Board of Elections, the County Clerk and the Department of Senior, Disability and Veteran Services, which includes Morris View Healthcare Center, the Division on Aging Disabilities and Veterans Services and the Morris Area Paratransit System. He was the freeholder board’s deputy director in 2010 and 2009.

Chegwidden is a history teacher at Morris Knolls High School. He and his wife have three children.

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