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.

To hear many voters tell it, Tuesday’s elections were about political tone — and they preferred that it be lowered, and a lot more civil.

This quiet town of nearly 4,800 elected two Republican newcomers and rejected former Democratic Mayor James Carroll and former Councilman William Connelly for two Borough Council terms.

Darcy Verbeyst, a longtime resident, said she celebrated when she heard of the victories by the GOP’s Steven Schleim and Theodore Davis, giving Republicans control of the council. The seats were those of two first-term council members — Steve Conti and Marianne Bolduc — opting not to seek reelection.

Davis and Schliem received 622 and 568 votes, respectively, and Carroll and Connelly trailed with 475 and 542.

The winning pair will join Mayor Ray Cywinski, who is a Republican, as are Councilman Joseph Gray, and Councilwoman Mary Montagne.

Many voters surveyed agreed that the election reflected support for the Republican mayor, who faced extreme opposition from council Democrats. In sentiments repeated by others, Verbeyst said Schleim and Davis will likely listen to the concerns of the people — “They are new, fresh faces, and they have this community in mind,” she said.

Carole Cardinale, a former councilwoman, declared: “This election was a referendum against Jimmy Carroll. He’s not a man who encourages ideas from others. Ray Cywinski is in tune with all the people.”

Listening to residents

She accused Carroll of attending council meetings so that he could heckle the Republicans and have the council Democrats attack the mayor at his bidding, and the Democratic candidates of sending out a negative brochure toward the end of the campaign, when nothing could be done to respond to it.

“The people decided that they had had enough of this,” she said. “They [the winning candidates] are sincere and interested in helping the town — that’s their primary motive,” said Cardinale.

Carroll shrugged off the loss, saying, “I think the voters just wanted change for the sake of having a change.”

And he denied that there was any negative campaign and vowed to stay involved with the town.

“I am proud of my record,” he said, about his 14-year stint in politics, including service as a councilman, mayor and freeholder.

Connolly said his wife had warned him not to run again for council and that “I probably should have listened to my wife.”

Resident Alex Parlamis said he has rarely voted Republican but did so in this case — “They seem like they will be an asset for this town because they are decent, and will do what’s right for this town.”

Davis and Schleim had campaigned on a platform of accessibility and fiscal responsibility.

“One of the big differences between us and our predecessors will be the tone of the meetings,” said Schleim. “At some of the meetings, they were not respectful to residents. I want our town to be more accountable for the decisions that get made, and more open to hearing from residents and taking residents’ ideas into consideration.”

Schleim added that he and Davis also hope to delve into municipal finances in order to better manage taxes.

Schleim said that when he met with residents during the campaign, he found that they were fed up with the behavior of the current council — “The attacks and literature by our opponents attacked our mayor. We’re a small town. We can’t afford to treat people like that.”

Schleim vowed to maintain civility.

As you hopefully know by now, Ted Davis and Steven Schliem are running for Demarest Town Council primarily due to our concern over town finances, uncontrolled and irresponsible spending by the previous administration, and the lack of respect toward the town and people from the previous administration. Ted and Steve have been trying their best to reach out to, one on one, as many Demarest Residents as possible because we knew that Jim and Bill would resort to some last minute Stories and Falsehoods. Unfortunately we were right.

Yesterday (Saturday the 5th) Jim and Bill produced a flyer that was full of out-right lies and misleading statements. Jim and Bill were the Town Leadership (Mayor and Council President) that ran down the town surplus from $2,100,000, and bought a home with town money during a recession – for an inflated price… It was the Democrats on the Council this year who wanted to institute an additional charge for garbage collection and sewer service. Ray Cywinski said NO. How can those guys claim to have any sense of financial responsibility and how can they get away with these untruths?

We hope that most residents see through this ridiculous and shallow attempt to paint Ted and Steven as unconcerned about Public Safety, Education, Demarest Day, Summer Rec Programs… Garbage and Sewer issues??? Are you kidding?

Both Ted and Steve have young kids in the Demarest School System – most of them are Athletes. Some of Ted and Steve’s primary concerns beyond finance are education, safety, and a strong community… the flyer from Jim and Bill yesterday represents one of the problems that needs to be eliminated from our small town… self-serving politics at any cost – including downright lies.

Please pass along this note to your friends and neighbors in Demarest… Additionally, I have attached a copy of the letter from Ted and I yesterday.

Ted Davis, Steven Schliem, and Demarest need you and your friends to Vote this Tuesday, November 8th to keep the town moving in the right direction, for our towns financial security, and to send a message that these shallow and irresponsible lies have no place in our small town.

Thank you for your support and please e-mail us with any questions or comments.

Ted Davis and Steven Schliem

www.demarestdaily.com
demarestduckpond@gmail.com

DEMAREST – Department of Public Works union employees who volunteered to take two extra furlough days will get them back, officials said.

The DPW and other borough hall employees agreed to take six furlough days this year to help get the 2011 municipal budget below the state’s mandated 2 percent cap. The six DPW Local 125 employees, however, took eight days. Furloughs are unpaid days off from work.

“I think it was very worthwhile [to give back the days] considering the DPW volunteered those days,” said Mayor Raymond Cywinski at the Oct. 17 mayor and council meeting.

They excess money to return two of the furlough days came about after changes in municipal staffing.

Cywinski said the borough’s chief financial officer had originally reported the retirement of the DPW superintendent a month later than it actually occurred – this money was put back into the budget and contributed to the council’s decision to return the two extra furlough days to the DPW.

In addition, money saved from not hiring a part-time employee in the finance office also aided in the council’s decision to return furlough days.

A fulltime employee in the finance office retired in May and the governing body anticipated using her in a part-time capacity when her replacement was hired to help her out. However, Cywinski said when the new employee started, “she just hit the ground running and didn’t need assistance.”

“We feel we have the money available to return the days,” said Cywinski on Oct. 18. He added that the council has been discussing returning the days to the DPW union employees for the last couple of months.

DPW Local 125 and employees of borough hall were the individuals who offered to take six furlough days in 2011 to help keep the budget under the state mandated cap.

At one point during budget discussions, the budget exceeded the state’s 2 percent cap by $1 million.

When the DPW union employees saw the predicament the governing body was in, they offered an additional two furlough days for the year. Beginning in May, each DPW union employee took one furlough day a month.

The final 2011 municipal budget was $500 to $600 below the 2 percent cap when it was adopted in May.

Cywinski said that the furlough days helped the borough reduce the budget by approximately $15,000.

Previously, Cywinski said the governing body is going to work very hard this year to avoid furloughs in the future because “it hurts the employees and doesn’t help the borough in the long term.”

Cywinski said he appreciated that the DPW volunteered the additional two days and was happy the governing body could return the days.

“The fact that they stepped up to the plate and offered that,’ said Cywinski, “it was very generous of them.”

Email: baskind@northjersey. com

Demarest Fire Department won the Dell Trophy at the 57th annual Fire Chiefs’ Parade, hosted by the Norwood and Harrington Park Fire Departments, which were both celebrating 100 year anniversary of service to their community. The Dell Trophy is awarded for the best of apparatus, march and uniform. Demarest Fire Department has won the trophy for the last eight years.

DEMAREST – Police Chief James Powderly was honored as the 2011 Chief of the Year by WeTip Inc.

“I was surprised and extremely honored to have been chosen for this award, considering the level of respect that I hold for the WeTip organization and the outstanding work that they do for our communities and children throughout the country,” Powderly said.

Powderly has been a member of the Demarest Police Department for 26 years and was appointed as acting chief in 2005 before being appointed chief in 2006.

“It’s wonderful that our chief was recognized on the national level to be awarded for the WeTip implementation,” said Mayor Raymond Cywinski. He added that measures like WeTip benefit not only Demarest, but the surrounding communities because they make the area safer.

Powderly said he was invited to a WeTip conference in California, where the company is based, to receive his award, but since he could not make the conference, representatives came to Demarest to present Powderly with his award on Sept. 30.

WeTip, a non-profit organization, is an anonymous hotline that was implemented in both the Demarest school system as well as the Northern Valley Regional High School District in March 2010. It is managed by the Demarest Police Department. WeTip allows anyone in the region to report any activity that could possibly turn into a crime, such as bullying, burglary and theft. The anonymous aspect allows a caller to call the hotline without feeling like he or she is a “tattletale.”

“I am proud to have been involved in the partnership developed with WeTip in our community and have witnessed firsthand the benefits and advantages of a powerful crime fighting, crime prevention tool,” Powderly said.

Powderly said WeTip definitely works. An anonymous tip on the hotline led to the arrests of four juveniles in connection with an underage drinking party in September 2010. In December 2010, police officials were told through WeTip that a shooting may take place at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest. Subsequently, security levels were raised at both the Demarest and Old Tappan campuses.

Powderly said he first learned about WeTip at a conference in California a number of years ago. He had been looking for a program like WeTip to implement in the community.

“In these times of budgetary and staffing constraints, it’s advantageous to have partnerships such as these which support a community approach to policing,” he said.

Email: baskind@northjersey.com