The Tenafly Borough Council confirmed a package of professional appointments, board and committee memberships and several prior minutes and consent resolutions during its reorganization meeting.

The council individually moved through and voted to confirm professional appointments (labor counsel, borough auditor, bond counsel, tax-appeal counsel and alternates, traffic and planning engineers, and a slate of special counsel and municipal professionals). The council then approved a broad consent package of borough appointments and committee memberships covering library trustees, planning board members, board of health, recreation, municipal liaisons and numerous volunteer committees.

Why it matters: the confirmations set the borough’s legal, fiscal and operational teams and populate advisory boards and liaisons that will oversee planning, recreation, historic preservation and public health for 2025, establishing who the borough will rely on for advice, contracts and day-to-day municipal services.

Key confirmations included: labor counsel (R25-02), borough auditor Lerch, Vincy & Higgins (R25-03), bond counsel Rogut McCarthy (R25-04), tax appeal attorney John Bang (R25-05), alternate tax appeal counsel Chazen, Lamparello (R25-06), Brightview Engineering as traffic engineer (R25-07), Neglia Group as borough planner (R25-09), and a package of appointments to planning, historic preservation, library, recreation and other township committees (R25-13 through R25-19 and R25-20 through R25-54 as part of the consent agenda). The council also confirmed municipal court and related public-safety/court appointments and the borough’s shared-court arrangement with Demarest was noted in council remarks.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve minutes of prior meetings: adopted (voice roll call recorded).
- Approval of R24-558 through R24-570 (consent items carried forward from 2024 minutes): approved by roll call.
- R25-02 (confirm appointment of labor counsel): approved by roll call.
- R25-03 (confirm appointment of borough auditor, Lerch, Vincy & Higgins): approved by roll call.
- R25-04 (confirm appointment of bond counsel, Rogut McCarthy): approved by roll call.
- R25-05 (confirm appointment of tax appeal attorney John Bang): approved by roll call; one abstention recorded on the roll call by the member identified on the record as "Damian."
- R25-06 (confirm appointment of alternate tax appeal counsel Chazen, Lamparello): approved by roll call.
- R25-07 (confirm Brightview Engineering as traffic engineer): approved by roll call.
- R25-08 through R25-19 (special projects engineer, planner and related appointments): approved by roll call.
- R25-20 through R25-54 (consent agenda of boards, committees, liaisons, and nonstatutory appointments including library trustees, planning board members, board of health, recreation, Tenafly Nature Center, downtown improvement committee, and many council liaisons): approved together as the consent agenda by roll call.

Council members repeatedly called the roll for each confirmation; most appointments were recorded as “Yes” on the roll call. Where a specific roll-call exception was recorded, the meeting transcript identifies the abstention for R25-05.

Background and context

Mayor and council members noted the vetting process for professionals included requests for proposals, review of price and experience, and input from the borough administrator and CFO. The meeting included administration of oaths for re-elected council members earlier in the evening and recognitions for outgoing member Venu Menon; those ceremonial items preceded the appointments and the roll-call votes.

What the council directed

The confirmations authorize the listed firms and individuals to serve in their municipal roles for 2025, enabling the borough to execute contracts, engage counsel on tax appeals and bonding, and proceed with planning, engineering and professional work under the newly approved panels and liaisons.

Ending

The council completed the reorganization business by adopting the consent agenda and multiple R25 confirmations, then moved on to mayoral remarks and the remainder of the reorganization meeting.