Hawthorne council re-elects Frank Matthews as president, names Bruce Bennett vice president; approves consent agenda and appointments

The Hawthorne Borough Council on Jan. 8 re-elected Councilman Frank Matthews as council president and selected Councilman Bruce Bennett as vice president, then approved a 22-item consent agenda and sworn in multiple board and commission appointees.

Why it matters: Council leadership and the annual consent resolutions set the administration's procedural and contracting authorities for the year and place officials on boards that decide zoning, recreation, planning and other local matters.

Councilman Frank Matthews was nominated for council president by Councilman Mealy and the nomination was seconded; Matthews abstained on the roll call and the motion carried. The roll-call votes recorded six yes votes and one abstention (Matthews). Councilman Bruce Bennett was nominated for vice president by Councilman Mealy, seconded by Councilman Sciarra; the vice-presidential nomination carried with Bennett recorded as abstaining and six yes votes.

The council approved a consent agenda, listed in the meeting as R1-25 through R22-25, by motion of Councilman Witecki and second. The mayor and clerk read the resolutions aloud; items included approval of the 2025 temporary budget, designation of official depositories, designation of legal newspapers for 2025, reaffirmation of previously adopted protocols, and professional-service contracts (including the borough engineer, Boswell Engineering; municipal planning consultant Burgess Associates Inc.; bond counsel McManaman, Scotland & Baumann; borough attorney Michael J. Pascual; municipal auditor Suplee, Clooney & Company LLC; and risk-management consultant VASA Agency). The consent slate also renewed certain licenses, continued the local LESO program for the police department, and authorized participation in the federal 1033 property program for HPD. The roll call on the consent agenda recorded all yes votes and the motion carried.

The council also approved a series of mayoral appointments and administered oaths of office. Appointments and confirmations announced and sworn in at the meeting included zoning-board members (Eleanor Winski, Marco Taterra, Darren Ramirez), planning-board members (Class 2: Christopher J. De Bella Sr.; Class 3: Mary Lou DiMattea; Alternate 1: Robert Verengia), members of the Board of Recreation (Chip Miller, Donald Knepper), and Municipal Alliance and Neighborhood Preservation Program representatives (a list including Nancy Agnello, Laurie Fernandez, Kyle Graham and others read on the record). The clerk and mayor administered oaths at the dais.

The council approved the minutes of the Dec. 18, 2024 regular meeting, accepted the mayor's administrative agenda, authorized supply contracts for municipal orders (Suplee, Clooney & Company), and approved bills for payment. Several motions were approved by roll call with unanimous or near-unanimous support as recorded in the minutes.

No substantive policy debates on ordinances were recorded at this meeting; the session focused on leadership, appointments, administrative approvals and the mayor's state-of-the-borough-style update. The next scheduled council meeting was announced as Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.