Freeholder Rick Proctor
Freeholder Proctor has extensive education and experience in public health and emergency management. He is the Health Officer to Rahway, Scotch Plains, Hillside, Berkeley Heights and Winfield, and is Deputy Coordinator of Emergency Management for the City of Rahway. He has authored and published several articles on bio-terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. He was a member of the New Jersey Department of Health, Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism Task Force. In 2005, Freeholder Proctor helped coordinate TOPOFF3, a week-long international terrorism response drill, and he initiated a home improvement grants program for senior citizens. He also initiated the Trailside roving Environmental Education van that brings exhibits from Trailside Nature and Science Center to schools and community centers. In 2007, as a member of the 150th Union County Anniversary Ad Hoc Committee, he helped to plan a yearlong series of commemorative events. In 2005, Freeholder Proctor helped coordinate TOPOFF 3, a week-long international terrorism response drill, and he initiated a home improvement grants program for senior citizens. He also initiated the Trailside roving Environmental Education van that brings exhibits from Trailside Nature and Science Center to schools and community centers. In 2007, as a member of the 150th Union County Anniversary Ad Hoc Committee, he helped to plan a yearlong series of commemorative events. Freeholder Proctor also serves on the Union County Local Emergency Planning Council, the Union County Advisory Board on the Disabled, the Industrial Pollution Control Authority, the Union County Alliance, the Mental Health Advisory Board, and he chairs the Freeholder Homeland Security Committee. In 2009, he was the catalyst who brought together Freeholders from four counties and city officials from Newark and Jersey City for the first time under the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Security and Defense Executive Education Seminar to discuss Homeland Security issues common to all the members of the North Jersey Urban Area Security Initiative. He previously served as Director of the Department of Health and Human Services for the Township of Bloomfield for 18 years, where he introduced innovative services, made the department more efficient and improved its delivery of services. Elected to four terms on the Rahway Board of Education, he served as Board President in 1984 and Vice President in 1980 and 1981. Freeholder Proctor was appointed to the Freeholder Board in February 2002. He was elected to a full three-year term in November 2002 and re-elected in 2005 and 2008. He served as Chairman of the Freeholder Board in 2005 and Vice Chairman in 2004. In 2008, Freeholder Proctor earned a Master of Arts degree in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Masters Degree program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He has a Master of Science degree in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Washington and Lee University.