Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • July 23, 2014 Franklin Lakes New construction officer and assessor appointed by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona administered the oath of office to a new construction official and tax assessor at the borough council’s last work session. John A Wittekind Jr, currently the con- struction code official in Allendale, was sworn in and will serve the borough as construction official and building sub-code official at a salary of $80,227 and zoning officer at a salary of $15,281, resulting in a total salary of $95,508. Edmund Brown was sworn in as the bor- ough’s part time tax assessor at a salary of $35,653. Brown will fill the unexpired term of Jason Cohen, the previous tax assessor who recently resigned, until June 30, 2016. In addition, Kelly Semrau was appointed the full-time accounts payable clerk, and Jean Bibbo was appointed tax assessor clerk. According to Franklin Lakes Borough Administrator Gregory Hart, the construc- tion code official enforces the current regulations of the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code, performs the duties outlined within state law, and manages and supervises assigned operations to achieve goals within available resources. The con- struction code official also plans and orga- nizes workloads and staff assignments; trains, motivates, and evaluates assigned staff; reviews progress; and directs changes as needed. The tax assessor’s office is responsible for identifying, valuing, and maintaining the tax list of all properties within the bor- ough. The office determines the theoretical selling price of all property in the borough Library hosts teen programs The Franklin Lakes Library will host a Robot Sumo Wrestling program for stu- dents in grades six and up on Wednesday, July 30. From 2 to 5 p.m., attendees will learn how to use BASIC software language to program mobile robots and participate in friendly competition. On July 16, Curt Buckler invites teens in grades six and up to Reader’s Theater. From 2 to 4 p.m., participants will use their voices and facial expressions to breathe life into a script. There are no costumes, makeup, or props. Participants do not need to memo- rize the script. Registration for both of these programs is required and may be completed online at www.franklinlakeslibrary.com or by call- ing (201) 891-2224. Registration may also be completed at the library located at 470 DeKorte Drive. The library will host a Drop in Movie on July 25. Students may visit the library from 2 to 4 p.m. for a feature length, PG-rated movie. Another Drop in Movie will be held Aug. 22. as of Oct. 1 of the pre-tax year, known as the assessing date. For all ratable property, this value is used to determine each proper- ty’s tax obligation used to fund municipal, school, and county operations. The office maintains the tax list by pro- cessing changes in ownership, subdivisions creating new parcels, and mergers combin- ing previously separate lots into larger par- cels. The office administers relief programs, defends the assessed values if appealed to either the Bergen County Board of Taxation or the State Tax Court, and determines an added assessment list for newly improved properties. Wittekind has served as Allendale’s borough’s construction code official, code enforcement official, and acting fire offi- cial since August of 2012. From April 2002 to July 2012, Wittekind was the construction official and building sub-code official for Allendale/Midland Park. Before that, he was a project manager for Signature Builders and the code enforce- ment officer for the Borough of Hillsdale. He also served on the volunteer fire depart- ments in Clifton and in Hillsdale, where he became a first lieutenant. Wittekind is a certified firefighter, fire official, and construction official. He holds fire sub-code, fire HHS, plumbing ICS, and building ICS licenses, and a Uniform Construction Code license. He attended the Bergen County Law & Public Safety Insti- tute in Mahwah and Bergen Community College. In 1999, he received the State of New Jersey General Assembly Citation of Valor award and the Heroic Life Saving Actions Award for his efforts during Tropical Storm Floyd. He led the education of the Hillsdale Public Elementary School System Fire Pre- vention Program between 1987 and 2001. He has been a head coach for boys’ base- ball, girls’ softball, boys’ basketball, and girls’ soccer since 2006. Brown has more than a decade of expe- rience as a tax assessor. He was employed by Appraisals Systems, Inc. and performed many of the duties of tax assessor for close to 30 communities in Bergen, Essex, and Passaic counties. He has extensive experience valu- ing added assessments and preparing and defending tax appeals as an expert witness, and meeting with taxpayers to discuss and explain the tax assessment process. He was the project manager for the borough’s 2011 reassessment when he valued all of the bor- ough’s properties. In addition, he assisted in the valuation of residential property during the 2007 revaluation program, inspected and valued all the added assessments for the borough in 2006, and prepared all the county tax appeals for 2008. Brown has a bachelor’s degree from Rider University, where his major was his- tory. He has been employed as a project manager for Appraisal Systems from May 2003 to 2014, and as staff appraiser for McNerney & Associates from March 2014 to the present.