Mayor Bruno Reflects on the Challenging Year of 2011

“What next, Locusts?” asked Berkeley Heights Mayor Joseph Bruno in an interview earlier this month on the Berkeley Heights Community News Show, ‘This Week in Berkeley Heights’ which airs every Thursday night at 7 p.m. on Comcast channel 34 and Verizon FiOS channel 47.

Bruno was responding to a question about the unprecedented chain of weather events that literally rocked the area beginning with an earthquake just prior to the devastating Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011 and the early snow storm on October 29, that left residents without power for days for the second time in two months.

“I don’t remember a year when we have had all of the incidents happen to us,” Bruno said.

He said while the storms were not the fault of Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), he was not happy with the how the company handled communication with customers, especially after the October storm.

“The communication was sorely lacking,” he said.

Bruno also said that even though tree trimming along the power lines is the responsibility of the power company, it’s clear that the township will have to consider stepping in to make sure that trees are trimmed to avoid another bout of extended power outages in the future.

When he looks at what he and the township council have accomplished in 2011. he said overall he is very pleased with the progress that has been made.

“We were able to pare down the budget and do it in a timely manner. In fact we completed it by May of 2011. And we’ve already started to work on the 2012 budget and hope to wrap it up by April 15, 2012,” Bruno said.

He said the council was able to save the township $92,000 in salaries and trim expenses by $36,000.

“What I am most pleased with is the attitude of people who are working in town hall at this time. The attitude has changed, people are happy to be working there,” Bruno said.

He said he believes that he and the council have set a new tone of respect.

“It’s okay to disagree, it’s not okay to be disrespectful,” Bruno said.

He said he believes that the mayor and council set the tone for township workers and how residents interact at meetings.

“I think that the council that we have assembled right now works very well together. We may disagree, but we disagree in a very respectful way,” Bruno said.

He said he believes respect is what is missing in politics in general.

Bruno said, “We need a little less chest thumping and more action. The business of government is to get something done.”