Kulish, Brewer lead council

The Hillside Township Council last night elected 3rd Ward Councilman John Kulish as its president and 1st Ward Councilman Edward Brewer as vice president.

KULISH

Councilman-at-large Leonard Gilbert did not seek another term as council president, just as he had promised last week.

Neither Kulish — a registered Republican allied with the Democratic machine — nor Brewer are up for election next year. Could this be a plan to keep the at-large candidates, whose terms expire next spring, under low profile to avoid taking the blame for this year’s (and last’s) property tax increase?

As expected, the two independent council members, the 2nd Ward’s Shelley-Ann Bates and the 4th Ward’s Gerald “Pateesh” Freedman, were not appointed to any council committees.

It has long been a show of force by the majority party on the council and Board of Education to excluded opposition members from committees, although the practice seems a bit odd. First of all, being on a committee isn’t fun. It means extra work and extra meetings. Secondly, all final decisions are made by the full council or school board, not by a committee. And finally, not being on any committee sure makes it a lot easier to sit back and be the critic.

In any event, President Kulish told Freedman and Bates not to be concerned about the lack of assignments, promising them they’d be kept busy “up to their necks” in the upcoming year.

In other news:

Richard Bauch, of Democratic moneybag firm Schenck, Price, Smith & King, and Kathy Hatfield are in as Personnel Attorneys

Robert Renaud was reappointed as Special Tax Appeal Attorney

Steve Rogut is the Bond Attorney

Samuel Manigault is the Public Defender

Francis McIntyre is in a Special Township Attorney for the Board of Health

Harbor Consultants are still the Township Engineers

Ed Kologi and Michael Simitz are Special Township Attorneys

Daniel McCarthy is Special Township Attorney

Robert Varady, a resident of King Street, is the ABC attorney

Diane Rowe was reappointed as Deputy Township Clerk

Supee, Clooney and Co. are the auditors again

Anthony L. Acampora, M.D., who Kulish noted was his doctor, was appointed to complete all pre-employment physicals

Hugh Keffer is the night prosecutor and Lara DiFabrizio is the day prosecutor

Adam Samiec was brought on again as an engineering consultant.

Appointments to boards included the usual suspects:

Local Assistance Board: Rev. Nancy Ruckert and Ann Kaufman

Board of Health: Alan Zimmerman, Rosemary McClave, Debbie Stroud

Zoning Board of Adjustment: Joe Miskiewicz, Nagy Sileem, Chales Watts

Swimming Pool Commission: Paula Reico

Community Recreation Advisory Council: Frederick Bloomfield