Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan will be out of the office for the next several weeks while she rehabs from multiple stress fractures in her back.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan was hospitalized Friday with multiple stress fractures in her back and will cede her day-to-day governance duties to County Administrator Ed Trawinski for the next few weeks while recovering, according to a statement released Tuesday by Chief of Staff Jeanne Baratta. For some time, Donovan has been undergoing treatment for chronic back pain, but her condition worsened last week and she was admitted to Hackensack University Medical Center for additional testing, Baratta said. Trawinski, who also serves as a deputy mayor in Fair Lawn, will handle the office's day-to-day duties for the next several weeks while Donovan recovers at a rehabilitation facility, Baratta said. A 2011 Donovan appointee, …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Fair Lawn Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski reaffirmed Thursday that he still lives in Fair Lawn, despite Little Ferry being listed as his residence on his Facebook profile for the past two months.
If you've paid a visit to Ed Trawinski's Facebook profile since late July you might have been surprised to learn that in addition to being a fan of the Bee Gees, historical non-fiction and underdog sports movies, the Deputy Mayor of Fair Lawn was no longer a borough resident. On the night of July 22, Trawinski's profile was updated to reflect a move to Little Ferry, prompting some residents to question whether the deputy mayor had illegally abandoned his constituents. The small southeastern Bergen County municipality remained Trawinski's Facebook-listed residence for the next 60 days until Thursday night, when he was reached by Patch and asked about his current dwelling. "3-33 Lyncrest Avenue," Trawinski replied. "It's where my driver's …
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Before they spoke out against council's decision last year to deliver a zero percent tax increase and deplete the town's surplus, the mayor and deputy mayor supported it.
Council meeting minutes from last May reveal that before Republican Mayor Jeanne Baratta and Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski spoke out against council's decision to drain the town's surplus and deliver residents a zero tax increase in 2011 -- a move Baratta has called both a "one-time gimmick" and "election year nonsense" -- they actually supported the move. Last year's Democrat-controlled council of Lisa Swain (D), Joe Tedeschi (D), Steve Weinstein (D), Baratta (R) and Trawinski (R) unanimously adopted the budget on May 24, 2011. At that meeting, Baratta said she was "very proud," of the budget and thanked everyone involved for their hard work in putting it together, according to the meeting's minutes. Trawinski credited Gov. Chris Christie for…
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Suit alleges that the Republicans' vote to replace former municipal judge David Lafferty was politically motivated.
A Montvale lawyer and Democratic contributor, who previously served as assistant county counsel, is suing both Mayor Jeanne Baratta and Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski for their votes earlier this year to replace her husband as Fair Lawn's municipal court judge. Kelly Durkin, whom NorthJersey.com reported is also suing the county executive and former county counsel over her removal as assistant county counsel last July, alleges in the suit that Baratta and Trawinski opted not to re-appoint her husband, David Lafferty, as municipal court judge because of her ongoing dispute with the county. Durkin, who had served as assistant county counsel for more than eight years under the previous Democratic regime, was relieved of her duties on July 8 of …
Friday, January 6, 2012
Democratic councilman Kurt Peluso raised some eyebrows with remarks he made at the Tuesday re-organization meeting
Since winning election in November, Kurt Peluso has been both applauded as a people’s champion who speaks truth to power and criticized as an immature “kid” with a lack of respect for his elders. Whatever your thoughts on the 28-year-old Fair Lawn native, know that he isn’t going to stop speaking his mind any time soon. “I’ll continue to speak for the taxpayers and residents of Fair Lawn,” Peluso said by phone Friday. “People who know me know I take the concerns of others and bring them to light.” Peluso, a former Planning Board member and president of the Fair Lawn Democratic Organization, first made waves in November when he called on then-sitting Republican councilmembers Jeanne Baratta and Ed Trawinski to resign their council seats …
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Partisan bickering at Tuesday's re-organization meeting will have to end if the new council hopes to limit residents' tax burden
Taxes, taxes, taxes. That’s the most pressing single issue the Republicans enter the new year and 2012 budget process trying to curtail. And as Mayor Jeanne Baratta said in her inaugural speech, they’ll be aiming to do so without eliminating any substantive borough services. “We need to be very prudent that we do not overburden [taxpayers] with wasteful spending that leads to high tax increases,” Baratta said Tuesday night. “But we also have to balance that and be mindful that our residents have come to expect the many amenities and services that this fine town has provided them. Services and amenities that add to the character and the charm of what Fair Lawn is.” Baratta said she would enlist the help of her Democratic counterparts as …
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A compilation of speeches by council members and other political officials in attendance at the Jan 3. re-organization meeting
Tuesday's re-organization, filled with new and old councilmembers, and decorated county and state dignitaries, provided a number of speeches. Here are a few, transcribed in their entirety (Editor's note: Long lists of thank yous were excluded from the transcribed versions of the speeches): Jeanne Baratta, after assuming the title of Mayor: Fair Lawn is a special town. I know it is. I know because of how many people I went to school with, that my brother and sister know in Fair Lawn, that are still here or chose to come back to Fair Lawn. Many of them are integral parts of our community serving on our phenomenal police force, as volunteers in our fire department, our ambulance squad, our rescue squad and so many other volunteer capacities. …
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Baratta will be sworn in as the borough's 36th mayor at the Jan. 3 council re-organization meeting
As chief of staff for the county executive and soon-to-be mayor of Fair Lawn, Jeanne Baratta is no stranger to the spotlight. Her dual county and municipal positions have made her a lightning rod for criticism on the comment pages of the Fair Lawn Patch and NorthJersey.com. Even Democratic councilman-elect Kurt Peluso joined the fray recently, calling on Baratta to resign her council seat because of what he perceived to be a "conflict of interest." Baratta said she's stung by the comments, which she admits to reading, and has many times responded to. "I am very offended when people call me a double dipper..or that I’m padding my pension," she said. "Because it’s the farthest thing from the truth." Baratta said when she was first elected to…
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Jeanne Baratta was first elected to council in 2005
(Updated on Dec. 23 with comments from Councilman Ed Trawinski) Jeanne Baratta will be sworn in as Fair Lawn's 36th mayor on Jan. 3 at borough council's reorganization meeting, multiple Fair Lawn Republican Party sources have confirmed. Councilman-elect John Cosgrove is expected to serve as Deputy Mayor and Ed Trawinski is expected to serve as Deputy Mayor of Community Affairs. In Fair Lawn, the mayor is not elected, but instead selected by the council at a reorganization meeting following each election. For the first time in more than a decade, Republicans hold a majority on council, and therefore can pick the town's next mayor. Baratta, the chief of staff for Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, will be their choice, Republican …
Friday, November 25, 2011
The ordinance passed in a 3-2 vote on first reading. It will come up for a final vote on Dec. 6
Fair Lawn council is one vote away from closing a loophole in its pay-to-play ordinance that allows the borough to hire political campaign contributors if they're brought on through a "fair and open" bidding process. In this case, "fair and open," simply means that calls for bids are advertised in two legal newspapers and the process follows the governing body's guidelines. The borough is not compelled to select the lowest bidder. "Effectively [the "fair and open" bidding process] was a sham," Councilman Ed Trawinski said. "Because if you said you were doing the fair and open, and you advertised, you still didn’t have to award it to a particular bidder. You could award it to anybody you wanted." A revised version of the ordinance, which …
USA1
11:13 am on Thursday, March 28, 2013
Willy, I voted for her and although Donovan has done a few good things for the county she has caused more lawsuits and filed more lawsuits and wasted more of the counties money which has left a bad taste. Hospitalization has nothing to do with it. I do not believe she practices what we preaches, ask all the under quailified overpaid division heads she hired after her election! more ›