NORTH ARLINGTON –
Mayor Joseph Bianchi urged borough residents and property owners not to leave their trash cans and/or discarded furniture at curbside in the aftermath of the weekend snowstorm.
The mayor cited borough ordinance Chapter 319-20 which states: “No person shall obstruct any street, avenue, road, highway, alley, sidewalk or public place with any kind of box or boxes, lumber, wood, merchandise or any other thing.”
“This law will be enforced,” he said, so as not to impede snow cleanup efforts by the borough’s public works crews.
Fines of up to $500 may be imposed on violators, at the discretion of the municipal court, he added.
Meanwhile, at its Jan. 21 meeting – the first of the New Year – the municipal governing body voted to renew its contract with RCM Ceberio LLC of Wayne through Dec. 31, 2016, as “redevelopment and public relations consultant.”
The firm, headed by Robert Ceberio, who was the executive director of the former N.J. Meadowlands Commission, offered the only submission in response to a Request for Qualifications (RFQs) sought by the borough for the service, according to the resolution adopted by the mayor and Borough Council.
Bianchi said that Ceberio’s contract provides for the same compensation as last year’s agreement: $2,500 a month, which comes to $30,000 for the year.
When RCM Ceberio was retained last year, the Democrats on the Borough Council objected, claiming that it was Ceberio who, in his prior role with the NJMC, who was behind the EnCap meadows development proposal that crashed when the company went belly up. They also had concerns about Ceberio pushing the borough to use eminent domain to take over industrial properties in the Porete Ave. redevelopment area.
Following a GOP sweep in the November municipal election, however, the Dems lost their seats and this time around, no opposition was raised to retaining RCM Ceberio.
In another personnel move, the borough hired the Rutherford firm of Scott Capitani Lubertazzo for “public relations” services for one year, through Dec. 31, 2016.
No distinction was made between the public relations services that the Ceberio firm was contracted to provide and the public relations service for which Scott Capitani Lubertazzo was retained.
Bianchi said the Lubertazzo firm will receive “$15,000 a year plus expenses” for that service. He said the company was one of four to submit a resume in response to the borough’s solicitation of RFQs.
On its website, the firm says: “When you hire SCL Writing Pros, you’re working with Cindy Capitani, a professional writer with 25 years of experience writing, editing and strategizing in all kinds of newsrooms, agencies and businesses.”
Capitani is a former editor of the now-defunct Leader Newspaper, which covered North Arlington while it existed.
SCL was also contracted as the borough’s website coordinator, also for one year, also for $15,000.
During the prior municipal administration of Democratic Mayor Peter Massa, the borough contracted with North Arlington resident Thom Ammirato for public relations.
The mayor and council voted to adopt an ordinance updating parking regulations for the Borough Hall Municipal Parking Lot, restricting parking in Area D to senior citizen parking permit holders or those receiving special permission from the police chief, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon.
The governing body also approved a $114,026 change order – a 17.27% increase – to its 2015 road program improvement program “for extended limits of Arlington Boulevard and Sixth St.”
It also issued congratulatory proclamations to the Northern Counties Soccer Association U-11 Champions and the South Bergen Soccer League U-12 Girls Championship team.
– Ron Leir
