Upper Freehold hires new administrator

BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

Dianne Kelly Dianne Kelly UPPER FREEHOLD — The new township administrator is a resident with a passion for horses and restoring historic homes.

Dianne Kelly, who has served as the treasurer and chief financial officer for many years, added the position of township administrator to her duties as of Feb. 1.

Kelly, who grew up in Connecticut, has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree from Hofstra University, N.Y., where she met her husband, Richard. He has a private law practice in Hamilton Township, and has served as the municipal prosecutor in Upper Freehold since 1987.

After graduation, Kelly returned to Connecticut and worked for KPMG, one of the four largest auditing firms in the U.S. After passing the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam, she and Richard married in 1982 and moved to his newly acquired home on Main Street in Allentown. She worked for several years for Thomas & Betts, an electronics manufacturer, auditing their subsidiaries throughout the U.S. and in Japan, Puerto Rico and Canada.

She began working as township treasurer in 1988, shortly after her oldest daughter, Caitlyn, was born. The Kellys have another daughter, Laura. Both of their girls are now attending college in South Carolina.

In addition to having her CPA certificate, Kelly also took the Rutgers University government finance officer courses and passed the certification exam to become a certified municipal finance officer (CMFO). Each New Jersey municipality was required to have a CMFO effective Jan. 1, 1990, she said.

“As the township has grown, I’ve expanded the finance office as well,” Kelly said. “I am especially pleased to be able to take the reins from Barbara Bascom, who created the administrative office.”

Kelly noted that although Bascom was not from Upper Freehold, she came to love the township, as evidenced by her tireless efforts in the area of farmland preservation and open space conservation.

“I am excited to be assuming the duties of business administrator while continuing as chief financial officer,” Kelly said.T

he couple’s Allentown house was built around 1830, and they were curious about what lingered behind the asbestos ceiling and cracked plaster when they bought it. One day, her husband ran a crowbar through the ceiling and began pulling it down, exposing beautiful wooden beams.

“We fell in love with old houses instantly,” she said.

Kelly was doing some tax work for John and MaryLou Melton around 1984 and was given a tour of an 18th-century house on Wygant Road, which was vacant due to the death of Mary Wygant.

“From the moment I stepped through the door, I was entranced,” she said. “The raised paneling, brass hardware and cozy fireplaces made me feel like I

was in another world.”

The Kellys soon purchased the house and some surrounding acreage. She said the house was built in 1721 by Obediah Holmes and stayed in that family through direct descendents and marriage until 1984 when she and her husband purchased it.

“It was quite a task to restore and I am pretty sure our families thought we had lost our senses,” Kelly said.

“Again, we started pulling down ceilings and exposing beautiful beams with beveled edges. We found gorgeous raised paneling behind a plaster covering above a fireplace in the room we now use for billiards.”

Hidden under an old floorboard, they discovered an English coin from 1740 during the reign of King George II as well as a Spanish coin dated 1844. The house has a total of 14 rooms and two attics. She said it has been used in the past for church services as well as school, and the attics used to house the field workers and house staff.

The Kellys own 7 acres that were originally part of a land grant of 1,000 acres from King George. She calls the land a perfect place for her two horses, Macintosh and Bootsie, both 25 years old.

Kelly said she’s always enjoyed trail riding, saving her quarters as a child to pay for an hour’s trail ride at local stables. Recognizing her dedication, her mother bought her a horse after college graduation.

“My favorite places to ride are Clayton Park and the Assunpink,” she said. “That’s one of reasons I love Upper Freehold so much.”

When asked what she would like people to know about her, Kelly replied, “Well, don’t think that I am just a bean counter. Most important in my life is my family, but I also love to ski, scuba dive, play tennis and travel. I hardly ever sit still, unless it’s to enjoy a glass of Chianti after a hike through Italy’s Cinque Terre region or gaze at the sunset after a 60-foot dive in Bonaire.”