Planning Board Holds Reorganization Meeting

Three new members were sworn into office at the New Milford Planning Board reorganization meeting this week--Frank Mottola, James Predergast and John Costa (who was unable to attend the meeting). Councilwoman Hedy Grant was appointed to fill former Councilman Howard Berner's seat on the Board.

Mottola, an architect, was the head of Tenafly's Building Department, as well as its Zoning Official, and is currently serving on the committee to explore the expansion and reconstruction of New Milford's firehouses.

Predergast, who recently ran for a seat on the Board of Education, said that as a homeowner and parent he is "very interested" in the future direction of the town.

In other Board business, Angelo DeCarlo was unanimously chosen to continue as Chairperson and Chris Pecci was appointed Vice-Chair. Margita Batistic, an engineer with Boswell Engineering, was chosen to continue as Board Engineer and the firm of  Phillips Preiss and Grygiel was reappointed to serve as Planner.

Because there were only two submissions for Board Attorney, and one withdrew their name because the scheduling of the meetings conflicted with other obligations, the Board is reissuing RFQ's (request for qualification/quotation) for more candidates. In the meantime, the Board authorized a 60-day extension to Richard Abrahamsen, who was appointed Board Attorney January 2012.

Mayor Ann Subrizi publicly thanked former Board members Thea Sirocchi Hurley and Carol Hudak for their years of service. Sirocchi Hurley had served on the Board longest--17 years.