Council Meeting

4- May-2012
  Some highlights from the Council Meeting for the Borough of Bogota. The notable resolutions that were approved that Joseph Niosi was appointed as the Superintendent of the Dept. of Public Works. Another was that the Fire Dept accepts Gordon Kohles Jr. as a Junior Firefighter.
   There were a number of items that brought up for discussions.  Michael Shannon from the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation came in to talk about the idea of shared services with other communities around Bogota. He stated that this would not be an attempt to merge the Borough with another town. This would be a chance to pool resources with other communities in order to reduce costs , and provide better service to it's residents.  The Boroughs tax assesor, Pat Wilkins, spoke on the possibility of doing a reassessment of Bogota in order to help keep the Boroughs tax revenues up to date with the current market values.
  Councilman Michael Brophy propose a measure to include the town volunteer emergency workers in the LOSAP pension program. This would be seen as a way to reward the longtime members for their years of service to Bogota, and to offer an incentive for new recruits to join one of the Boroughs emergency departments. Councilman Nunez  supported Mr. Brophy's idea as a why to show those dept. they had the support of the people they serve. This would have to put on the November ballot for the citizens to vote on. The council will draft a ballot question soon,as well as spelling out who would be allowed to draw from this program. Another proposal came as Fire Chief Greiner and Rescue Squad Chief Geraghty talked about having a coordinated effort to purchase equipment that would be used by both departments. This would also lead to the two groups coming closer together to work as one for the safety of the Borough. This was greeted very warmly by the Mayor and Council as an idea that would greatly help the people of Bogota.
   In the time for Citizens remarks the Council was asked by Mr. Robbins of Bogota about the way PSE&G are trimming the trees around their power lines.  Other remarks came from some members of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. They voiced their support of Officer Regina Tasca and question the motives of her hearing. Since this is still an ongoing process the Council refrained from comment.

Michael Shannon addressing the Council about shared services.

Malik Williams speaking in support of Officer Regina Tasca