A new year

Middlesex Borough’s two governing bodies – the Borough Council and Board of Education – both marked the start of a new year by holding respective reorganization meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Administration of the oaths of office were the primary item of business at each session. The school board swore-in five members to new terms while the council welcomed two new members.

Otherwise, Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk and council members hired professional firms and made appointments to municipal boards and committees. The board adopted the state Board of Education’s code of ethics, which typically occurs at the first meeting of a new year.

Both meetings were relatively brief, the school board session lasting only 20 minutes.

School board members Thomas Thornton, Danielle Parenti, Sharon Schueler, Patricia Reynolds and Landette Jeffrey were given the oath of office as a group.

Thornton, Parenti and Schueler all won new three-year terms in last November’s general election. Reynolds ran unopposed for a two-year unexpired term and Jeffrey ran without an opponent for a one-year term.

Parenti was re-elected by colleagues to again serve as board president. Schueler was elected vice president. Both were unopposed for their leadership positions.

Mikolajczyk swore-in new council members Kenneth Griggs, Jr. and Joseph DeScenza for three-year terms. Griggs and DeScenza both ran unopposed on the Republican line in the general election.

Griggs has served previously on the Board of Health, while DeScenza has been a Joint Land Use Board member. DeScenza (lead photo) is the son-in-law of the late Joseph Zuccarelli, who was elected Middlesex mayor in 1955.

Michael Conahan was chosen by colleagues to again serve as council president in 2025.

Mikolajczyk reflected on 2024, his first year as mayor, and commented on the issues facing himself and the council this year.

A past three-term councilman, Mikolajczyk thanked his family for their support during his first mayoral year. “I am starting my 11th year as a part of the Middlesex leadership,” the mayor said. “I’ve seen a lot of things happen in that time, some good and some not. At this point, I feel we are on a good path.”

Mikolajczyk noted numerous areas where progress and achievements occurred in 2024. Among them were:

The governing body has added to the municipal surplus and plans to continue doing so, he said. The floodwall project has removed about 90 homes from the tax base. But the council has compensated somewhat by bringing in $800,000 from the sale of underutilized borough properties which will turn into ratables, according to the mayor.

Mikolajczyk said “some headway” has been made on Cedar Avenue railroad crossing safety improvements and the Route 28 streetscape project was completed.

The Department of Public Works built a retaining wall to save two Heather Lane homes threatened by severe erosion, said Mikolaczyk. The borough also initiated a five-year rotating reassessment program and “invested” in the police department by hiring nine officers over a two-year period.

Other initiatives included the re-establishment of the Environmental Commission and the start of a comprehensive plan for Victor Crowell Park.

Mikolajczyk said flooding and a Lake Creighton cleanup are “pesky outstanding challenges” for the governing body. “These will take years to complete but we will continue to push the state agencies to make our needs a priority,” he said.

A “proper budget process” will continue in 2025, Mikolajczyk said. “The last two years, we saw a couple of necessary tax increases,” Mikolajczyk said. “These were brought about by several factors. Investiment in staffing, rising costs of health benefits, overall economic price increases, and timing.”

“In hindsight, two years ((2021 and 2022) of a zero municipal tax increase with these other factors may not have been the most helpful,” he added, “but the extraordinary economic circumstances caused by covid and the uncertainty of the future made this decision reasonable at the time. We will endeavor to keep the increase for 2025 as reasonable as possible.”

Mikolajczyk noted the state health insurance plan that covers borough employees has risen 48% in the past three years. It’s a thorny issue that confronts the governing body as it is negotiating contracts with several municipal bargaining units.

“We are currently in the process of looking at the options that are available as this increase is unsustainable for us as a borough,” the mayor said. “To continue as it is would possibly result in a reduction in services or staff, or both. I do believe we have an opportunity here for a win for our employees as well as our borough.”

Changes the mayor sees ahead are: the folding of the Beautification Committee into the Culture and Arts Committee; major improvements to Mountain View Park; and the implementation of a mercantile license whereby all local businesses would be registered.

Mikolajczyk also foresees reactivating the old economic development committee and a continued emphasis on promoting volunteerism with municipal committees and organizations.

Noting the ongoing floodwall-related ratable loss, he added that the borough needs to be more aggressive in luring new investment. “We need to attract businesses and developers to our borough,” the mayor said. “Our reputation is that we are difficult to work with and not really interested in change. We need to be amenable to controlled development.”

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