By Victor M. Polce, Mayor of Old Tappan

When I first took office as Mayor of Old Tappan on January 1, 2000, the council and I were concerned with development, continuing the course of fiscal responsibility engineered by our previous mayors and councils, and trying to figure out how we were going to increase volunteerism in our wonderful community.

Victor M. Polce

We succeeded in keeping development in check with a very protective Planning Board, we worked with our Department heads to ensure that our budgets were not only viewed in the present, but with an eye towards the future, and we tried to encourage more residents to volunteer their time and efforts to keeping Old Tappan great.

We are grateful for those who have devoted so much time and effort for their community, and many of them have been duly recognized with proclamations and certificates of appreciation over the years.  I thank them all for their service, and would encourage others to get involved to help us make a difference in this town.

As the Mayor of Old Tappan and a partner in both the Northern Valley Mayor’s Association and the Pascack Valley Mayor’s Association, we are working together to evaluate and implement shared services agreements, which make good sense for everyone involved.  We have never, nor will we, look at short-term solutions that will not stand the test of time. Rather, the towns that we “partner with” share our values and concerns that what we do is resident friendly, and fiscally prudent.  Every community in the Pascack and Northern Valley has partnered with others (they all do a great job) and our commitment to shared services has never been stronger.

The one constant in life, is change. Those who can anticipate change, and the impact it will have now and in the future, will always view change as opportunity.

Currently we are investing in alternative energy while reducing our dependence on electricity by creating our own electricity through solar power. At the same time, we are retrofitting several of our building’s lighting and HVAC systems to further reduce costs. We are trying to make our little corner of the world greener, while reducing costs for our residents.

I encourage everyone to attend their town’s council meetings with an eye towards being a part of the solution, rather than the problem.  Everyone of us needs and desire your input. Thank you.

By Nancy Morehouse

WASHINGTON – Congress has put a lot of pressure on the United Nations in the past month, saying it needs to implement reforms before the United States pays its dues in full, calling it “smart withholding.”

On Thursday, April 7, Chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), delivered a statement at a hearing on UN reform with U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, explaining that, although the UN’s budget has more than doubled in the past decade, its transparency, accountability, and effectiveness have not increased in proportion.

“The absence of structural reforms has real consequences. We appreciate the limited, tactical victories that the U.S. and other nations won at the Council’s most recent session,” said Rep. Ros-Lehtinen. “But that is just not enough. Most of us want a more accountable and effective U.N. I believe the way to achieve that is to require ‘reform first, pay later.’”

However, there are many activist organizations vying for the UN, hoping to assure that the United States does not fall back into arrears.

“If we don’t pay our dues for the UN, it makes it very difficult [for us] to lead in the UN” said Peter Yeo, Vice President for Public Policy and Public Affairs at the United Nations Foundation in a phone interview earlier this month. “How can we expect other countries to be in coalition with us if we don’t pay our dues?”

He acknowledges that there is a budgetary issue to be dealt with. “Everyone has to tighten their belts… and the UN is willing to do its share in terms of cutting their losses,” he said.

In a testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 25, Mr. Yeo provided a long list of ongoing UN projects in places like Cote d’Ivoire, South Sudan, and Iran, and the accomplishments of UN subsidies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The UN is also aiding in more recent foreign causes in Afghanistan, Libya, and Japan.

“Progress will not happen without strong U.S. engagement and leadership,” he said. “And that means we must pay our dues on time, in full, and without threats of withholding our contribution.”

The UN provides many jobs in the NY/ NJ area, as many of the contractors employed for the $1.4 billion renovation of the United Nations headquarters in New York City are from the metropolitan area and northern New Jersey.

This is not to mention the jobs that the UN provides internally, “Americans that work at the UN and the myriad of agencies do amazing work on behalf of the world’s poor and behalf of the people around the world struck by humanitarian,” said Mr. Yeo. “These workers play a vitally important role that in American security.”

UN advocates anticipate that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen will move forward with legislation in the next couple of weeks  when congress is back in session.

To view Mr. Yeo’s testimony, and more information on the UN Foundation and Better World Campaign, visit www.betterworldcampaign.org. For information on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen’s statement, visit foreignaffairs.house.gov.

There are only a few days left to purchase tickets for the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Foundation’s Black Tie Gala on Saturday, April 30 at Pier Sixty, New York City.

This year, the medical center is honoring Jay C. Nadel, Chairman of the Hospital Board.  Guests will also enjoy entertainment by comedian Howie Mandel.

So far, $1 million has been raised, making this the most successful Gala yet!

For further information or to purchase tickets, please call the Foundation at 201-894-3725.

On Sat., March 12, the Closter Elks participated in the 4^th Annual Elks Miracle Plunge in Belmar to support Cooley’s Anemia Foundation and Elks Camp Moore. From left are Devon Sampson, Sal Wanderlingh, and Steve Richard.  Devon Sampson raised over $1,500.  In total, over $70,000 was raised for the charitable organizations.

By Douglas E. Hall

When you think about it, serving the public in an elected office really is a tough job.  I’d say it’s more so when one considers this work on a municipal level.

Douglas E. Hall

Starting at the top, being president of the United States may be the toughest job around, but the president has lots of help and you’re really, for the most part, protected from direct contact with all the folks who voted for you, or voted against you.

That is true to a lesser degree as one considers holding public office on a Congressional level, a state level, county level and finally on a municipal level.  There on the municipal level, a Mayor, such as Nancy Merse of Edgewater, until her death on Thursday, March 10, gave her attention to supporters and detractors each and every time she conducted a meeting of the Borough Council.

Mayor Merse did it with skill, class and style and an amazing amount of patience with the most trivial or wrong-headed complainer.

Consider this, on top of the many pressures of this job; Mayor did it all while waging a lengthy battle with cancer that included major surgery.

Yet she was there to do, as best she could, her sworn duty to carry out the oath of her office and lead the affairs of the Borough of Edgewater through what ever challenges came up.

The high points of her administration were the resumption of regular ferry service across the Hudson River to Manhattan and the construction of a new borough Hall.

I’m not the first one to say it’s a pity the mayor did not get to participate in the opening of the new Borough Hall, which should be completed in a matter of weeks.  But it truly is a pity.

Nancy Merse

Now in the case of the ferry, this is a good illustration that the Mayor put the wishes of the people before her own thoughts on a matter.

For some may well remember that Mayor Merse, as a Borough Council member, did not initially support the acquisition of the Edgewater Marina, nor did she support the resumption of ferry service after an absence of 50 years.

But after the voters supported ferry service in a non-binding referendum, she wholeheartedly worked to make new ferry service to New York a reality.

The borough-owned marina has become an asset to the town, and the morning and evening ferry service has been a winner with commuters.  Not only did Mayor Merse provide shuttle bus service from the ferry to most of the Edgewater commuters to avoid the question of parking at the marina and increased traffic congestion, but she worked out arrangements with Fort Lee and Cliffside Park to have commuters from those towns brought to and from the ferries each day.  Cliffside Park Mayor Gerald Calabrese was among those who were there at her well-attended funeral at the Church of the Rosary on Monday, March 14.

There was a good turnout among the residents as well as current and former borough officials.  I feel it was a mistaken slight that there were no officials from the county, state or federal level at her funeral.

But Mayor Merse probably would not have minded.  Though she served the public and her town for 38 years, Mayor Merse was a humble, down-to-earth woman who sought not personal aggrandizement.

Anyone who even knew her slightly wound up calling her, Nancy, not Mayor or Mrs. Merse.

She was one-of-a-kind, and her steady hand on the tiller of the borough through rough seas or calm will be missed.  She was the first woman to serve as mayor of Edgewater with her exemplary service, which began on the Board of Education in 1973 and took her to the Borough Council in 1979 and the office of mayor in 2002. She should not be the last woman to serve as mayor of Edgewater.

Mayor Merse loved Edgewater and Edgewater loved her.  We miss her and will in the days ahead.

By Sophie Heymann, Mayor of Closter

Public expenses rise inexorably, while depressed income falls…and the local taxpayer is the fall guy on whom the burden drops.  Local officials in several Northern Valley towns are investigating ways of sharing and consolidating to lower costs and thus, the burden on the taxpayers.   Because of incentive grants being provided by the Bergen county prosecutor, John Molinelli, the spotlight is being placed on our various police departments.  Closter and Demarest are among the towns interested in the study.  Would sharing police services save us money, and if so, would services be the same, decrease or increase?

What kinds of services can be shared?  Let’s define some of the services that the Police provide for us:  patrolling our streets, by foot and by vehicle, dispatching urgent messages, practicing on firing ranges, providing traffic services, investigations by the detective bureaus, providing school resource officers, maintaining continuous training as well as training junior officers and civilians, supervising civilian crossing guards, maintaining accurate records, responding to all kinds of emergencies and accidents, and a myriad of other special services such as monitoring seniors and disabled residents on a daily basis, or helping stranded cats out of sewer holes or trees.

We pay very dearly for that array.  Only the newest officers in the Valley earn fewer than six figures, and with benefits and overtime, many of the longer-serving officers earn over $200,000. The police salary budget uses nearly 30% of the average municipal budget. Could that figure be lowered by sharing some of the responsibilities, most of them, all of them? No wonder the prosecutor is encouraging us to consider consolidation.

The question is however, do these services lend themselves to consolidation, or can they be administered as shared services? Will regrouping our police forces save manpower or, if so, only at the price of diminished services?

Consider some of the problems:  each police force has a different union contract, a different table of organization, different communications and record keeping systems and different types of responsibilities (in our case, one community’s police department has to service our high school, the other community has a much larger commercial and industrial area). There are different policies for sick leaves and other absences, and for all sorts of on-duty operations. Closter is proud of the fact that it is one of the first departments in the state to be certified by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, and none of the potential partners are.

There are solutions:  they need willpower and commitment on the part of all of us, elected officials, police officers and residents.  It will also require expert consultants to calculate whether savings are sufficiently warranted, and whether consolidation, or sharing some services, is most beneficial to our communities.  Each one of us should observe the process as it moves along, and share our thoughts with our elected officials.  Closter and Demarest’s governments exist at the will of the people they serve, and they will always respect that will.

By Nancy Morehouse

ENGLEWOOD – This year will be the last for the legendary St. Cecilia Interparochial School. The school was given official permission last week by the Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, to shut its door for the last time.

The K-8 school, located down the street from the St. Cecilia church, has been a landmark in the community. However, in recent years, enrollment has seen a severe decline.

“Things had been relatively stable until recent years,” said Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Newark, Jim Goodness. “This did not come as a complete surprise to families.  Enrollment had been decreasing [in previous years], and we cannot continue without increasing tuition exorbitant amounts.”

The school opened in 1867 as an elementary school, and later a high school was added, but was closed a number of years ago. The school has become a landmark in American football, as the renowned football coach Vince Lombardi started as an assistant coach there 1939.

The current building at 85 West Demarest Ave. was established in 1954 and then in 1990, the St. Anastasia Church of Teaneck joined to co-sponsor the school as a result of the changing demographics in the area.

“[St. Cecilia School] was one of the most visible ministries in the parish,” said Mr. Goodness. “Anytime a school with a long and solid history, such as St. Cecilia, closes, it is a loss the community in general, and it is a loss to the Catholic community.”

“The school’s main concern is to bring this year to a close in as easy a manner as they can,” said Mr. Goodness.

After speaking with the principal, Ann Walsh, Mr. Goodness said she is making it a priority to ensure this affects the students as little as possible, and that they are given the proper transitioning in the fall.

HARRINGTON PARK -   Air Force Airman Geoffrey B. Mandell graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

He is the son of Norman Mandell of Maple Ave., Ridgewood, N.J., and Susan Karpe of Eastbrook Road, Harrington Park, N.J.

Mandell graduated in 2009 from Ridgewood High School.

ENGLEWOOD – Air Force Airman Washington J. Gardner graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

He is the son of Debra Gardner of Mallard Lane, Beavercreek, Ohio, and grandson of Mary Rogers of Knickerbocker Road, Englewood, N.J.

Gardner graduated in 2010 from Beavercreek High School.