The Villadom Times Weekly Newspaper Online-Oct 6, 2010 Issue

Mahwah October 6, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Narrow vote moves township election to November by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Township Council has narrowly voted to move the municipal elections from May to November to coincide with the county, state, and federal elections. The council voted 4 to 3 to move the election date after a discussion at a recent public meeting during which three members of the council voiced some concerns about the move, and suggested the council delay the vote to get more information about the potential impact of the change. Council President John DaPuzzo and Councilmen Samuel Alderisio, John Roth and Roy Larson voted to adopt the ordinance, while Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio, and Councilmen John Spiech and Harry Williams voted against its adoption. Mahwah’s municipal government is nonpartisan. That is, the township’s government does not have any party affiliations, and candidates do not run for municipal election under the banner of any political party. Elections have been held every other May. The state legislature passed a new law in 2009 which permits towns operating under the 1981 Non-partisan Elections Law to pass an ordinance to change the municipal election date to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. It became public law this past January and allows those towns to change their election date to the date of the general election starting in 2012. Any runoff in a November general election would be held in December, with the elected official taking office on Jan. 1. The new law provides that, once a municipality has chosen to change the date of its regular municipal election to the date of the general election, it is not permitted to change the date back to May until at least 10 years have passed since the adoption of an ordinance to change the date. The council members who voted against the ordinance wanted to take more time to study its potential impact on the township’s municipal elections. Those who voted for adoption felt there was no downside to the change. DiGiulio voiced a concern about the 10-year wait that is required to change back to a May election date. Spiech said he would like to see more details about the ordinance and the state law that permits the change. He asked if a Republican, for instance, could seek election to the township council on the Republican line on the ballot in the general election. He was told he could not because the election for the township council is non-partisan. Williams also voted against the introduction of the ordinance at the council’s previous public meeting. He reiterated his opposition, saying, “I share the reservations expressed by Lisa DiGiulio and John Spiech. We have a lot of time. I have heard some good, sound comments from the council (in favor of the ordinance) but it takes only 30 seconds to adopt it and 10 years to undo it. There’s plenty of time and since there are some reservations (about the ordinance) it deserves some in-depth debate. That won’t hurt us, but if we make the decision now we will have to live with it for 10 years.” Before voting for the ordinance Alderisio said he understands the reservations of the other council members, but he did not see any downside to the ordinance. When the municipal election is held in 2012, the terms of Mayor Richard Martel and Council Members Samuel Alderisio, Lisa DiGiulio, and John Roth will be up for reelection. Their terms will be extended by six months to the end of 2012. The change in date of the Mahwah municipal election will reportedly save an estimated $35,000 in election costs, and it is expected to attract a larger voter turnout. These two arguments were most often expressed by those in favor of the ordinance. The River Palm Terrace, 209 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, will host the Mahwah Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Oct. 19 luncheon and networking event. The group will meet from noon to 2 p.m. Members are invited to bring promotional material and literature for the event’s information table. The cost is $35 for Chamber members and $50 for nonmembers. Prepaid registration is required to guarantee participation; an additional $5 processing fee will be charged if paid the day of event. For reservations and other information, visit www.mahwah.com or call the Chamber office at (201) 529-5566. Chamber offers networking luncheon The Chamber is pleased to welcome the following new members: American Prosperity Group, Englewood; Fairfield Networking Plus, Fairfield; Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, Hackensack; Heartland Payment Systems, West Milford; Lifetime Retirement Strategies, New York City; Maquet, Mahwah; Organization Plus, LLC, Ramsey; Performance Accounting Solutions, Wyckoff; Remo V. Biagioni, DMD, Englewood; Royce Joseph Capital, LLC, Boonton; Synergy Entertainment, Leonia; The Timbercreek Group, LLC, Mahwah; and Wowgreen Independent Distributor, Ramsey. 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