MARLBORO – Councilman Scott Metzger will serve as president of the Township Council during 2019. He was elected to the position by his fellow council members when Marlboro’s governing body held its reorganization meeting on Jan. 3 at Town Hall.
Metzger was sworn in as council president by Mayor Jonathan Hornik. Councilwoman Carol Mazzola was elected to serve as vice president. Mazzola and Metzger are joined on the governing body by Jeff Cantor, Randi Marder and Michael Scalea. Democrats have a 5-0 majority on the council.
There was no municipal election in Marlboro in 2018. This year the terms of Hornik, Marder and Scalea will be on the ballot.
“Continued points of emphasis in 2019 will be road and park improvements and open space preservation,” Metzger said. “Last year as part of the township’s four-prong road repair initiative, the council passed a bond ordinance that included $5 million for road repairs. We reconstructed tennis courts at three parks, added a new playground and will be completing much needed repairs at a fourth in 2019.
“To meet these goals, we continue to aggressively pursue alternative revenue sources to invest in capital projects. We are very proud of our AAA Standard & Poor’s bond rating. This helps us to borrow at the lowest possible rate and we continue to maintain a debt level of approximately one-fifth the statutory limit and less as a percentage of our budget than it was in 2003,” he said.
“Preserving open space has been a primary focus and that will not change. Over the past 10 years the township has preserved more than 260 acres. This past year we preserved 56 acres in the center of town, known as the Stattel farm, preventing more than 500 homes from being built.
“I am excited about the (former) Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital site as the state completes a cleanup in preparation for transfer to the county, which will keep 411 acres as open space and parkland for generations,” Metzger said.
During the reorganization meeting, Mazzola was appointed to the Planning Board. Martin Powers was reappointed as an alternate member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a two-year term. Elmer Geran was appointed to the Agriculture Advisory Committee for a two-year term and Heidi Rajan was named chairwoman of the committee for 2019.
Wai Ling Yuen was appointed to the Youth Exchange Advisory Committee and Huimin Shen was reappointed to the committee, each for three years. Council members designated Connie Mo as chair of the Youth Exchange Advisory Committee for 2019.
Municipal officials reappointed Michael Dupont and Raymond Raya as public defenders; Pasquale Menna as municipal prosecutor; James Newman as municipal court judge; Louis Rainone as township attorney; CME Associates as township engineer and township planner; the law firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole and Giblin to serve as co-counsel on matters involving affordable housing lawsuits; and the law firm of Goldzweig, Green, Eiger and Biedzynski to serve as special counsel for affordable housing.