Franklin Lakes February 9, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Kahwaty chosen to fill vacant seat on council by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Borough Council has chosen Charles Kahwaty to fill the vacancy on the council that was created when former Councilman Frank Bivona was sworn in as mayor on Jan. 2. Members of a Franklin Lakes Republican Club nominating committee previously provided the council with the names of three individuals they recommended for the vacant seat. Those names included Kahwaty, former councilman Dennis Bonagura, and Vincent O’Brien, a past president of the Republican Club and chairman of the borough’s county committee. All three are active members of the Republican Club, and are well known to the current council members. Kahwaty, 56, was chosen to fill the vacancy by a 3-2 vote of the council, one of whom participated in the meeting via a telephone connection to the council’s special session and work session meeting that was held in the conference room at the municipal building. The next morning, Mayor Bivona swore in the new councilman, who will fill out the second year of Bivona’s unexpired term. Kahwaty will have to seek election in November to complete the last year of that term. Council President Paulette Ramsey, who participated in the meeting via the phone connection, nominated Kahwaty following a discussion with Borough Attorney Richard Lustgarten concerning the procedure to follow in making the nomination and voting on it. Councilwoman Nathalie Lota seconded Ramsey’s nomination. Ramsey said the new council member will be the delegate to the borough’s planning board, and Kahwaty has the experience and background to best fill this position. Councilman William Smith joined Ramsey and Lota in voting for Kahwaty, while Councilmen Michael Friscia and Frank Pedone voted “no.” Kahwaty ran for the council in 2006 with Friscia. Pedone was the chairman of the committee that nominated Kahwaty to be the vice president of the Republican Club, and Pedone served on the county committee that provided all three of these names to the council for consideration for the vacancy. He explained his vote, saying it was not meant to be a negative commentary on Kahwaty, but rather an expression of his preference to have a vote on all three candidates. “They are all good people,” Pedone said. “They’re all good guys, and it was just a matter of picking someone who is good, and they all are good, so we didn’t lose -no matter who got the job. All three of them are friends of mine, and all of them have good resumes. I favored all three and so my vote was more of an abstention rather than a ‘no’ vote because I really wanted to see all three names get voted on. “Charles is a good guy, and will make a good councilman. He’s been very active in the club, and is now vice president of the Republican Club and serves with distinction.” Kahwaty said he was delighted to have been selected by the council. “I’m going to do my best in that position. It’s a great honor and privilege to be in this position. I’ve always been interested in public service, and I am almost a lifelong resident of Franklin Lakes and so to be able to contribute back to the community is a great honor,” he said. Kahwaty pointed out, however, that the borough faces tough times ahead and it is going to be very difficult to provide value to the residents in a time of declining revenues and a very difficult economy even for a very affluent community like Franklin Lakes. “We are very lucky to have someone like Mayor Bivona in his position because he is a former CFO with tremendous business and financial background who can really look over a budget and pick it apart and get the most for our community,” Kahwaty added. The new councilman is an attorney whose practice areas include personal injury law, commercial litigation, municipal court law, driving while intoxicated cases, and collections. He was been admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1980 and has been admitted to the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey and U.S. Court of Appeals, the Third Circuit Court, Tax Court, and U.S. Supreme Court, District of Columbia, and the New York Bar. He received his JD degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1979 and a BA from Georgetown University in 1976. He is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association, where he has held several leadership positions, including president from 2002-03. He has also held several positions on the New Jersey State Bar Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the American Trial Lawyers Association New Jersey, and the Republican National Lawyers Association. While at Seton Hall, he was the editorin-chief of the Seton Hall University School of Law newspaper. He received an award for excellence in design and feature article. From 1979 to 1980, he was law secretary to Superior Court Judge Thomas L. Franklin. He was president of the Franklin Lakes Republican Club from 1986 to 1988, and vice president since 2008. From 1984-94, he was the borough’s public defender. 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