BY BRYAN SABELLA
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — Mayor Edmund O’Brien called 2004 “a year of progress” for the borough and told residents to expect more of the same in 2005.
At the Jan. 3 Borough Council reorganization meeting, he cited the opening of the new borough hall, the opening of Vidas Park, the South Main Street traffic calming and streetscape project, and the “bikeway” on Grove and Woodbridge avenues.
The new year should bring substantial progress on the Middlesex County Greenway project, the trailhead park that will be located in town, more traffic-calming measures, and the redevelopment of the old Stop & Shop property on Middlesex Avenue, the mayor said.
A public hearing on streetscape and traffic-calming efforts for Central Avenue will be held sometime in late winter or early spring, O’Brien said.
A much-needed supermarket for the downtown area may also be in the works, the mayor said.
Veteran council members Catherine Totin and Alan Grossman were sworn in to new terms by borough native and state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.
Buono also swore in new Fire Chief Robert Donnan, a 17-year veteran of the fire department, and Assistant Fire Chief Timothy Getty.
Buono thanked the mayor and the council for “keeping Metuchen a premier place to live in New Jersey.”
The council unanimously selected Thomas M. Vahalla as the new council president, replacing Grossman.
Vahalla commended Grossman for doing an “excellent job.”
“Your communication skills and dedication made it easier to be a council member,” he said.
O’Brien also called upon residents to urge the governor and state officials to hold a constitutional convention to address school property taxes.
School districts around the state receive an average of about 40 percent in state aid, while Metuchen annually receives 30 to 35 percent below that, O’Brien said.
“It’s a burden of unfair taxation,” the mayor said. “But this is not a burden our community is shirking.”
He noted that voters recently passed a $28.7 million referendum to renovate the high school. The school district will receive a 40-percent reimbursement from the state.