BY AMANDA BASKIND - STAFF WRITER
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE
DEMAREST – Demarest resident and District 39 Sen. Gerald Cardinale swore in Republican council-elects Ted Davis and Steven Schliem at the borough’s Jan. 1 reorganization meeting.
“It’s great to see this council change, full of kids,” Cardinale said.
Both Davis and Schliem are fresh faces to the local government. The two councilmen were flanked by their wives and children when they took their oaths of office.
The governing body also welcomed another first-timer to the council at the reorganization meeting – Democrat Blake Chroman was unanimously appointed and sworn in to fill the seat left vacant by Tom Connolly, who resigned last month, citing professional obligations.
“I think the electorate spoke and they’re looking for fresh perspectives,” said Councilman Steve Verp, before he made the motion to appoint Chroman.
In addition to new faces on the governing body, officials made a number of moves, changing how borough business is conducted, such as altering the start time of the mayor and council meetings and having one law firm handle all the borough’s legal obligations.
Last year, Mayor Raymond Cywinski suggested moving the start of the mayor and council meetings from 7 to 8 p.m., so more residents could attend the meetings. That move was rejected by the Democrat majority, and meetings began at 7:30 p.m. in 2011. The council unanimously agreed to start the meetings at 8 p.m. in 2012.
For the past few years, the borough’s borough attorney, tax appeal attorney and labor attorney came from different law firms. However, this year, all of the borough’s legal business will be handled by the firm of DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick and Cole. Doug Doyle was appointed as borough attorney. Doyle served as Demarest’s borough attorney in 2002.
During his opening and welcome, Cywinski noted that with all of the storms and the 2 percent cap, this year was rough for the borough, financially.
“Unfortunately we don’t have unlimited resources to deal with these emergency situations,” said Cywinski. “We did our best under the circumstances.” He added that some moves made last year, such as getting rid of two positions as well as having a closed campus lunch will help the borough save money.
Looking forward, Cywinski wants to continue improving communication “back and forth” between the borough and its residents.
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