November 28, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXXI, No. 29
HIGHLIGHTS Renovation work at The Gunnell Oval has been delayed yet again ... See Page 10
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
CHRISTMAS CHEER Photos by Lisa Feorenzo T’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR ALREADY — and there’s no better moment to remind readers to shop locally during the season. Here’s one place to do that — State Fair Seasons in Belleville, where you can purchase just about anything you’d need for Christmas decorating, including all you see here in these photo. State Fair is located at 241 Main St., Belleville. Visit www.statefairseasons.com for more details, including the store’s hours of operation. And be sure to patronize other local businesses that often rely heavily on holiday-based sales.
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BOE trustee-elect Tunnero arrested on theft charges By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
A
LYNDHURST BOARD OF EDUCATION trustee-elect has been arrested and charged with the theft of $102,500 after he reportedly failed to make repairs to two properties in Seaside Heights following agreements to make repairs to
those properties. Vincent D. Tunnero, 41, of Third Avenue, Lyndhurst, was charged in Seaside Heights by a summons prepared by Lawrence Mayberry, of the Warrants Squad of the Seaside Heights Police Department, on Oct. 25. According to the summons: • On April 5, 2016, Tunnero allegedly “committed
the offense of theft by purposefully obtaining or retaining currency upon agreement … to a known legal obligation and instead dealt with the property as his own while failing to make the required disposition by taking $37,000 in currency from (the victim) for remodeling/renovating/repairing 433
See THEFT, Page 23
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018
As NA teachers get raise, Kearny’s educators are still without a new contract By Ron Leir Special to The Observer
W
HILE KEARNY public school teachers struggle toward a new labor deal with the intercession of a state mediator, their peers in North Arlington have succeeded in negotiating a
new pact. Under a new deal approved Nov. 19 by the N.A. Board of Education, the borough’s public school teachers, custodians and maintenance staff, secretaries and nurses are getting a 3-year contract, retroactive to Sept. 1, 2018, and running through June
30, 2021. The employees are represented in bargaining by the North Arlington Education Association, whose membership voted overwhelmingly Nov. 2 to ratify the agreement. According to Samantha Dembowski, BOE assistant business administrator,
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the new contract awards teachers’ salary increases, inclusive of annual step pay increments, of 2.95% for the 2018-2019 school year, 3.2% for 2019-2020 and 3.2% for 2020-2021. Dembowski said there are no changes to employee contributions for health insurance or pension coverage or longevity pay. She said teachers agreed to give back some time for “extended Mondays” for professional development and faculty meetings but were accorded increases in compensation for class coverage pay, detention pay, all student club and activity advisors and sports coach stipends. Also, Dembowski said, the BOE agreed to provide stipends to advisers of any new student clubs that may be formed. Custodians got an increase in their uniform allowance, she said. Dembowski was unable to readily provide the cost to the board for the pay adjustments and additional compensation for the current school year. The revised association employee salary guide, which has been adopted by the BOE, calls for starting pay for a first-year teacher with B.A. only to rise, over the life of the contract, from $50,000 to $50,600
while maximum pay for a 17-year teacher with a master’s degree plus 60 graduate credits would go from $98,650 to $100,250. For custodial/ maintenance staff, the new contract maintains $40,000 as the starting pay throughout the three years while top pay, reached after nine years, will climb, from $60,520 to $63,440, over the life of the contract. Twelve-month secretaries’ maximum salary will go from $70,238 to $73,794 over the threeyear contract period while 10-month secretaries’ minimum and maximum pay levels will stay stable. The contract for N.A. public school administrators expires June 30, 2019, while the contract for supervisors continues through June 30, 2021, according to Dembowski. The BOE hired Alicia Beltsios as a special education teacher at the middle school at $55,650 and Kimberly Cappiello as full-time teacher of Spanish at the middle school and at Jefferson, Washington and Roosevelt elementary schools at $51,000. Both will start Jan. 2, 2019. And it agreed to pay Rabco Equipment Corp.,
See CONTRACT, Page 9
Inside this edition ... Opinion...........................................................................6 Around Town.................................................................9 Food & Dining Directory............................................10 Sports & Recreation...................................................11 Health & Wellness Directory.....................................14
Largest Selection of Lights & Ornaments in New Jersey!
Real Estate...................................................................16
Artificial Trees from 4½’–12’ Indoor & Outdoor Decorations Collectibles Nativity Tabletop Decor Gifts & More!
Real Estate Directory.................................................18
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Obituaries....................................................................19 Classifieds.............................................................20-21 Business Directory.....................................................22
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018
03
Get your soon-to-be-legal weed elsewhere, pols say Despite anticipated green light from state, leaders don’t want pot sold here By Ron Leir Special to The Observer The Lyndhurst Township Board of Commissioners is looking to go on record opposing the creation of any recreational marijuana businesses within the town limits. On Tuesday, Nov. 20, the governing body introduced an ordinance amending the local zoning code to ban the use of any property “for the sale or distribution of marijuana stores, retail and wholesale marijuana products manufacturing facilities, and retail and wholesale testing facilities, and the operation of retail and wholesale marijuana social clubs.” The amendment goes on to say that, “All activities related to the abovementioned retail and wholesale uses such as, but not limited to cultivation, possession, extraction, manufacturing, processing, storing, laboratory testing, labeling, transporting, delivering, dispensing, transferring and distributing are expressly prohibited within the township.” The lone exception allowed is for “a qualifying patient, primary caregiver, registered or otherwise, or registered dispensary pursuant to the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, N.J.S.A. 24:61-1.” Anyone found guilty of violating this law would be subject to a fine of up to $2,000 or up to 90 days in jail or 90 days of community service. If the measure passes a public hearing set for Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers at the Municipal Building, 367
Valley Brook Ave., it will be “subject to review and recommendation by the township Planning Board.” Township Attorney Carmine Alampi said township commissioners “don’t feel it’s appropriate to facilitate” this type of business. Alampi guesstimated that “about half” the municipalities in Bergen County fall into the same camp as Lyndhurst. He said he presumed those communities willing to accept recreational marijuana companies are doing so for tax revenues. The New Jersey legislature is expected to act shortly to pass a bill legalizing the private operation of recreational marijuana businesses in the Garden State and the governor has said he would sign that legislation. It is anticipated that other nearby communities will follow Lyndhurst’s lead in putting the kibosh on recreational marijuana outfits from operating there. In Kearny, for example, Mayor Alberto Santos told The Observer in a Nov. 16 email that, “In the past I have expressed serious concerns about the impacts of this kind of business on a community. However, we don’t know what the municipal options are since we do not yet have state legislation on legalization — there are multiple bills being discussed in Trenton. “Once there’s clarity from Trenton, we’ll take it up at a Council meeting.” Asked if any entrepreneurs have made overtures about setting up such a business in Kearny, Santos said: “No one has approached Kearny to date.”
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For Jane Mackesy, program coordinator for Kearny Prevention Coalition, an arm of the Kearny Alliance that is seeking to combat local youth substance abuse, there is no time like the present to outlaw recreational marijuana enterprises in town. “We should be ahead of
the curve,” Mackesy said at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Coalition which is looking to increase membership and expand. It was mentioned at last week’s meeting that Hasbrouck Heights, Garfield, Secaucus and Elmwood Park have all passed local ordinances banning recreational
marijuana facilities. Kearny Town Council President Carol Jean Doyle, a 25-year member of the Kearny Alliance, told The Observer she’s “definitely against” the introduction of that type of enterprise in town. “No way it would get my
See POT, Page 17
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