June 18, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 11 Wyckoff Administrator honored for 30 years of service by John Koster Wyckoff Township Administrator Robert Shannon received the congratulations of the Wyckoff Township Committee and the New Jersey State Senate and General Assembly for his 30-year career as Wyckoff’s top profes- sional. Shannon began his career in Wyckoff on June 1, 1984. He won the New Jersey Municipal Management Asso- ciation Award as Manager of the Year in 2013, and has served 15 years as a member of the Wyckoff Volunteer Fire Department. The resolution referred to Shannon’s career as “superb” -- he is widely considered the best administrator in Bergen County and one of the top five in New Jersey -- and said the entire state is indebted to him for his work in managing Wyckoff and in helping to train other management profes- sionals through courses with the extension division of Rut- gers University. “Within all the spheres of his life and work, Robert J. Shannon Jr. has set a standard of excellence and, in so doing, provided a model of faithful commitment worthy of emulation,” the New Jersey Joint Resolution said. Girl Scout Troop releases ladybugs The Wyckoff Township Committee and the Girl Scouts pose with Sylvia J. Razzo and Betty Vander Plaat at right. Members of Troop 76 prepare to release the ladybugs. The members of Girl Scout Troop 76 – all of whom are fifth graders at Washington School -- culminated their volunteer work to make Russell Farms Park more pedes- trian friendly by carefully scooping up 18,000 ladybugs on flat sticks and turning them lose on some of the 130 trees donated by Almstead Tree & Shrub Care. The event took place June 7. “Whoa, that’s a lot of ladybugs,” one girl marveled as Michael Almstead and Ryan Duff pried open the heavy- duty plastic box that was crammed with the labeled “attack bugs,” which eat insect parasites and keep newly planted trees and shrubs healthy without the use of chemical pes- ticides. The girls and the ladybugs, once introduced, got along famously. The Scouts’ mothers and the Wyckoff Township Committee members had a good time watching the girls distribute the insects among the newly planted trees. Township Committeeman Kevin Rooney said the Girl Scouts deserve a lot of credit and that Almstead and Duff also deserve a lot of credit for their hard work and generos- ity. “They donated everything -- trees, labor, and main- tenance -- and the ladybugs,” Rooney said. “They do an excellent organic program in keeping everything natural here.” Ladybugs -- male and female -- are general predators that prey on aphids and soft-bodied garden pests. The ladybugs just released are expected to mate and lay eggs (continued on page 21) Robert Shannon (left) and Wyckoff Mayor Douglas Christie. (Photo courtesy of Wyckoff Police Det. Sgt. Joseph Soto.) Shannon is the author of about 20 professional articles about management and public purchasing. The grandson of a police officer who was murdered in the line of duty, Shannon is a graduate of Montclair State College (now Montclair State University) and has master of public administration degree from the University of Kansas, a university that specializes in the training of administrators at the municipal, county, and state levels. He served as an executive assistant and specification writer in the town of Hamilton in Mercer County from 1980 to 1983 and as a municipal manager and clerk in Easthampton in Burlington County in 1983 through his appointment to his post in Wyckoff in 1984. He is a registered municipal clerk, certified municipal finance officer, certified tax col- lector, qualified purchasing agent, certified professional purchasing officer, and certified public buyer. (continued on page 21)