Waldwick February 15, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 3 Improvements to the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook banks to alleviate flooding in the Dow Avenue area moved a step closer to reality last week when the borough council agreed to fund the project even if no outside help is received. “It’s a sad situation. The houses are destroyed every time there is a storm,” commented Mayor Thomas Giordano. “It’s really serious down there. We shouldn’t leave people stranded in that area,” he added. The council split 3-2 on the decision to include the $165,000 estimated cost of the project in the 2012 capital ordinance, with Councilwoman Anita Bozzo and Councilman Frank Palladino dissenting. Bozzo said that it may prove harder to make a case for grant funds if the money is already appropriated. “I don’t know if we will be shooting ourselves on the foot in securing the funds, but the people are suffering,” said Councilman Andrew Brennecke. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz said that if a state grant is awarded, the local appropriation can be cancelled and never spent. “I see us doing the project with or without the state funding,” Kratz said. “We don’t have other people with flooded houses, whose property damage is due to the flooding of the brook,” Kratz added to concerns that a precedent would be set. He said that the borough had done similar work in the Council agrees to bond brook restoration project same area twice before, the last time after Tropical Storm Floyd. Kratz said the completed NJ Department of Environmental Protection permit applications were filed last week, and that he would begin investigating sources of outside funding while the applications are under review. He estimated the process would take from 60 to 90 days. Kratz said once the permits are issued, he will contact the Bergen County Control Commission to see if they can do the work, as they did in the past. If not, Kratz said, a private contractor would have to be hired on public bid. The funds would come from the capital budget or from any grants received. “I’ll leverage both options to see which comes forward at a reasonable time,” Kratz said. Work would entail stabilizing the east bank of the brook with rip-rap or other materials for approximately 485 feet in the area of Dow Avenue, where the brook follows an s-path. The activity will also involve the cleaning and de-snagging of the stream channel at the Wyckoff Avenue bridge. Only the borough, not individual homeowners, could apply for the permits the NJDEP requires because heavy equipment will be working in the waterway. All property owners along the project route will be required to sign on to the project and provide surveys of their property. Top-notch service The U. S. Department of State recently presented the Waldwick Library with a Certificate of Excellence for the library’s U.S. Passport services. Members of the library’s U.S. Passport team are Library Director Patty Boyd (left) and Passport Agents Eugene Barnes and Loretta Rhodes. The library’s full-service operation includes passport photographs, forms, and expediting. Call (201) 652-5104 for additional information.