Mayor Kristine Morieko's Resignation Message

Today marks eight weeks since my spine surgery this summer. I had hoped that reaching this point would find me back to the work and community I love. Instead, unexpected complications, a second emergency surgery, and a longer road to recovery have changed that path.

Pushing through pain since my first surgery in 2025 has not served me well. I need to give my body the time and focus it needs to fully heal. I owe that to myself and to my husband and children, who have carried so much of the weight. They have reminded me that sometimes those who spend their lives caring for others have to allow themselves to be cared for, too.

After a great deal of thought, consideration and consultation with both family and physicians, it is with a very heavy heart that I submit my resignation as Mayor of the Borough of Glen Rock, effective October 1, 2026.

This is not the way I imagined my service as Mayor ending.

Serving Glen Rock has been an honor and has shaped my identity. For more than a decade, I have had the privilege of serving the community that raised me and that my family has called home for generations. I have watched Maddie and Brayden grow up alongside my public service. Somewhere along the way, the people I was elected to serve became much more than constituents. They became friends, neighbors, partners, and an extended family to us all.

I have been welcomed into your homes and businesses, celebrated your milestones, mourned your losses, and stood beside you during difficult moments. I have also shared countless ordinary moments that, looking back, were anything but ordinary.

I have had the extraordinary privilege of knowing the people who quietly make Glen Rock work every day. Our employees, first responders, volunteers, and so many others have taught me more about service than I could ever adequately express.

My goal was always simple: to give Glen Rock some measure of what Glen Rock has given me: community, stability, safety, belonging, memories, and a place that has always felt like home.

I leave knowing the work of the Borough will continue with people who care deeply about this community. I am grateful to Council President Amy Martin and the entire Council for carrying that work forward during my medical leave. To my fellow elected officials, Borough employees, department heads, first responders, volunteers, and members of our boards and committees: thank you for allowing me to learn from you and serve beside you.

Titles are temporary. The relationships we build while carrying them are not.

While I am stepping away from the Mayor's chair, I am not stepping away from Glen Rock. This is my home. It always has been, and it always will be.

Right now, my job is to heal. To rest, recover, and rebuild. To regain the parts of my life that I have spent far too long measuring in pain, energy, and what my body will allow me to do that day.

Until then, please know how profoundly grateful I am for the privilege of serving you, and how deeply I will carry this experience, and all of you, with me.

With love, respect, and a very full heart,