Waldwick March 10, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 9 A Hudson Avenue resident asked the Waldwick Mayor and Council last week to make the baseball fields available to other town sports in the fall. He did not receive much sympathy from the governing body, however. “How do you break the exclusive lease one group has on the fields? That decision impacts hundreds of kids,” said RJ Conlon, who said he has two youngsters that play sports. Conlon said that there are only five fields available for non-baseball/softball play. “That’s for 60 teams with 700 children, along with the school sports programs,” the resident said. He added that while football teams have to use parking lots for practice, or cancel games for lack of a suitable field, the baseball fields sit unused in the fall. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz explained that the baseball association has had exclusive use of the Borough Resident wants use of baseball fields for football play Park fields since the 1970s in exchange for providing the necessary maintenance. “They serve a public service, so they can have exclusivity. Their lease was authorized by ordinance,” said Kratz, noting that the current lease has four years to go. He also pointed out that the football association uses the Traphagen School fields and added that football play destroys the fields. “You wouldn’t want the liability to repair the (Borough Park) fields. They are beautiful,” said Councilwoman Anita Bozzo. “The baseball association is helping us because we don’t have to maintain the fields. The number of volunteer hours that go into the whole thing is tremendous,” she added. “At the expense of other children,” countered Conlon. Waldwick may join other neighboring towns in exploring options for solid waste disposal. At present the borough has a contract with the Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA) for the disposal of all garbage collected in the municipality. That contract expires on May 31, as the BCUA goes out to bid on a new contract of its own. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz said the town pays the BCUA $82 a ton for the solid waste collected each year. Kratz is spearheading the joint effort so that the towns are ready with a price of their own once the BCUA announces its contract price. “We believe we have other dumping sites available that the county doesn’t have,” said Kratz. “We want to hedge against what the county’s price would be,” he added. The site being considered is in New York state just over the border. He said any contract would specify a dumping site no farther than 30 miles from the area. The joint contract would be administered through Borough to seek options for garbage Ramsey, which is the lead agency for the Northwest Bergen consortium, through which the 13 area towns bid many projects, including road resurfacing. Plans call for going out to bid on the service by April 6, he said. “The more tonnage we have, the better price we can get,” said Midland Park’s Administrator Michelle Dugan. “We want to get the best price for the borough. It makes sense to give it a shot,” she added. Midland Park is one of the towns joining the effort. The impetus for the garbage disposal joint venture, according to Kratz, came from a disposal price of only $66 Wyckoff received recently when it decided to go out to bid on the service. Since then, Franklin Lakes and Oakland have joined in Wyckoff’s contract. Wyckoff expects to save about $100,000 a year with the new contract which was achieved by combining the garbage disposal tonnage of all three municipalities in order to create a larger contract and achieve a cost savings due to the volume. He said that last year there were only eight football games for which use of the field would have been helpful. Councilman Chuck Farricker, the recreation liaison, said that high water tables make play difficult on some of the fields. He said efforts to have first and second graders play flag football on the Veterans’ Park field on Lindbergh Parkway had not been successful due to the wet conditions there. Former Mayor Frank McKenna said that the lease between the town and the baseball association likely has a clause giving the town the right to schedule several dates of its choosing on the Borough Park fields. Senior tax freeze applicants In other business, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann Viviani said that her staff had helped more than 100 senior citizens prepare state Property Tax Reimbursement applications so they could qualify for the senior tax freeze. To be eligible, seniors must be 65 years of age and have lived in New Jersey for at least 10 years, three years in their present home. Income threshold for 2009 is $80,000 ($70,000 for 2008) for a husband/wife household. “Many seniors tremendously benefit from the program,” said Carol Shepard, the borough’s public health nurse, who deals with senior citizens on a daily basis. The program went into effect in 1996, allowing seniors who qualify to be reimbursed yearly for any tax increases over their 1996 taxes or over the base year in which they become eligible. All income, including social security, pension income, etc., is taken into account. The deadline to qualified residents to file for the 2008-09 tax year is in June. ��������� Spacious 1BR Call for details ������������������ ������������ NOW RENTING But STILL can’t lose that Tummy or Cellulite? Call me about VelaShapeTM A NEW Nonsurgical method of Fat reduction and body contouring • Non-invasive • No Anesthesia • No Downtime Beverly Dunn, MD Waldwick, NJ • 201-445-0032 Dieting? Working Out? ������������������ ��������������������� by Usui and Tibetan Reiki Master Nancy L. Pianfetti ������������  ����������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������������������� 201-488-5085 ������������������������� �������������������� ���������������������� CHECK OUR WEBSITE www.waldwickchamber.com