Tara Buss brings a passion for the town to her new position as mayor of Colts Neck

By:  | March 20, 2025 |  |  Colts Neck

By Emma Sylvia

Colts Neck enters the new year under new leadership. The town excitedly voted in their new mayor, Tara Buss, who was sworn in at the beginning of 2025. After growing up in the area and returning to her roots, Buss is grateful for the opportunity to make a positive change and celebrate what makes Colts Neck, Colts Neck. 

In a recent meeting with her, we got to discuss her new position and what the process of getting elected was like, what it really means to serve your community and get involved, and all the things about her town that truly make it special. 

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Tara Torchia Buss. I’m the Mayor in Colts Neck as of the first of this year. I’ve served on the township committee for Colts Neck for four years now and was just appointed as mayor by my township committee. I work in Holmdel Township as the Director of Personnel and Strategic Operations in our neighboring municipality. My background is in public health and administration.

I’ve been involved in Colts Neck for a long time. I grew up in this area, and moved down to Washington D.C. for college, and worked at the University of Maryland for 15 years. I moved back to New Jersey 18 years ago and got sucked into doing all kinds of fun stuff at the schools with the PTO, and that’s how I got involved in politics. I started meeting lots of people and got to know a lot of people around town – which translated into talking to them and leading to my decision to run. There were so many important issues going around town – and I was crazy enough to run!

What was the election process like?

Basically, the Monmouth County committee chooses the candidates. Among the candidates, I was provided the support for that year. You interview in front of people who are elected by those in their districts. Even though I was the Republican candidate of choice, I still chose to go out and host meet and greets, do a little door knocking, and meet a lot of new people in town. 

You’ve just recently started your position – is there anything that surprises you about your new role?

Working in a municipality, I do realize how many things go on day in and day out. I would say since becoming mayor, I didn’t know if I realized how many matters would come to my attention. The number of people that reach out in and out of the township. 

What does a day in the life of Colts Neck’s mayor look like for you?

It’s busy. I’m up pretty early getting my daughter off to Colts Neck High School, and then I go to my job. Before I start my day at work, I look at my emails and address anything for Colts Neck. When I get home, I see what came about throughout the day. Almost every day, I have a meeting – if not more than one – after work. So, most of my mayor duties are in the evening. To give an example, yesterday I went straight from work to town hall, and gave a tour of the police department to a Girl Scout troop in town. That was a lot of fun. Then I headed over to an environmental commission meeting, and I got home pretty late. There’s a lot of things that go on all week long. 

We attend meetings as our liaisonships. I’m the liaison for many different boards and commissions. We have fun things, too – we have the fire department installation dinner; we had the first aid installation dinner. That’s probably what I like most about being involved: You have the opportunity to meet so many amazing people that are doing so many amazing things in the community. Specifically, our first responders, who are all volunteers here. They’re invaluable. 

How was 2024, and what do you have to look forward to this year?

I would say 2024 was a busy year, preparing for municipal budgeting – a lot for affordable housing. This year ahead, I’m trying to focus on communication within our township and outside our township, partnering with different groups, partnering with neighboring townships to coordinate our activities more. I think partnering is so important. There are towns that are doing what we want to do here, and vice versa. We can share best practices. That’s my goal for 2025 – partnering and sharing, seeing what towns are doing it right and how we can all do it better. 

Are there any upcoming Colts Neck events you’re looking forward to?

We’ve already started planning for National Night Out in August, which is one of our community policing events. We always have so much going on. We’re prepping for our big Memorial Day Parade, which is such a wonderful partnership we do with so many groups in the community – everything from the Business Association, the Women’s Club, the Lion’s Club, all of our first responders, and Naval Weapons Station Earle. 

I think that was one of the biggest surprises I’ve had since getting involved politically. I don’t know if I truly understood previously the wonderful partnership and the advantage that we have as a town with a naval base in our backyard. Towns like Tinton Falls and Middletown can also appreciate that. The Naval Weapons Station Earle is part of our veterans’ events; it’s been a nice experience getting to know people there on the base. It’s been wonderful. We really work together nicely with them. They do help us with fires, first aid response, and just working with them on different projects. It's been a nice surprise to have that opportunity to learn about what they’re doing on the base. I have family in the military, but it’s a little different. It’s a different perspective that’s special. 

What would you say makes Colts Neck special?

There are so many things that make Colts Neck special. The biggest thing is our beautiful, sprawling rural nature. We’re surrounded by horse farms and beautiful green spaces and trails and all of that. In the fall, that’s why you see such an uptick in people visiting – we have so many wonderful farms to visit, like Eastmont Orchards, Brock Farms and Delicious Orchards.

One of the things from growing up in this area and living here for so long and meeting so many people through politics, is knowing that what makes us so special is the people that live here. The people and their love of the town and their love of America. It echoes in all the different things that we do. People are filled with a lot of love. That really shines through, especially during Veterans Day and Memorial Day. They love embracing our history. We have a strong Historic Preservation Committee. 

But overall, the people and the passion people have for the town. That’s what makes it a special place to live and visit. 

Do you have any advice for people looking to get involved in their own local politics?

When you get involved, you learn a lot. You understand a lot. You know a lot. I would say the most difficult part in getting involved in politics is, for as transparent as everyone wants to be, there are a lot of issues that come up that you’re not allowed to speak on for legal reasons. However, for people that want to truly make a difference, you have to get involved. You can’t just sit on the sidelines. Getting involved doesn’t have to be running for office. You can attend meetings and ask questions. We spend a lot of our time on the phone with people, answering questions and listening to concerns. 

People just need to get involved. Start attending things. Sometimes, people think that politics is all about who you know. To me, it’s more about what you do. If you start going to meetings and getting information, you can find the right path for you. That might be running for an elected seat. You can run whether you’re a Republican or Democrat – you can be part of an organization that helps pick a candidate. Maybe you don’t want to be the person that’s out on the forefront, but you want to impact who’s part of your town. I did that for several years before I chose to run. That was really empowering. 

Any other closing remarks?

As a mayor in a town, I think that the most important thing that we can do is listen to everybody. Take in everything that we hear and govern accordingly. That’s why people put you in office. You have to take in everyone’s perspectives, which may very well be different than my own. I would really encourage people to talk to your local mayor, deputy mayor, township committee or council – talk to them. It’s our job to listen to everybody. 

One of the most surprising benefits that I’ve found in getting involved in politics is the wonderful opportunity I’ve had to impact the youth of today. Not only through my own children – I have two teenagers who have watched me give a lot of time and service to others and my community, and I see it now. My son just started college and is doing philanthropic work at his school. I see how my daughter wants to give back. You see service in action. I’ve been involved so long that I get to see kids reflect service and action back. That’s what it’s all about. I didn’t get involved so that I could teach young kids how to serve – that wasn’t my intention, but I’m really noticing that that’s been a surprising benefit that I’m proud of. If I’m done with politics tomorrow, and my involvement ends in that regard, I’ll always have that wonderful experience in being able to teach others to serve.