The Fanwood Borough Council acknowledged a number of our citizens at its regular monthly meeting on February 19, 2019:

VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Judge Leland McGee, head of Social Justice Matters, a Fanwood/Scotch Plains community group that has facilitated dialogue during and after incidents of racial injustice in our towns. Judge McGee has spurred communications among students, parents, local law enforcement and elected officials following last year’s incidents of racially-charged graffiti at Scotch Plains/Fanwood High School.

GO RED FOR WOMEN: Bruce Padulsky, Little Hearts Big World CPR Instruction who, with his wife Melissa, organizes the annual Go Red for Women Heart Health fair held this year at the JCC in Scotch Plains. The Padulskys give incredible amounts of their time to this event which has helped educate the community of the dangers of heart attack in women. Bruce is also a Fanwood volunteer firefighter and Melissa is a Fanwood Rescue Squad EMT. Also appearing tonight was Peter Carey of the regional chapter of the American Heart Association, originator of the Go Red campaign who told the council that Go Red has directly contributed to saving the lives of countless women.

NEW VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS SWORN IN: Mayor Colleen Mahr swore in three new recruits to the Fanwood Volunteer Fire Department. Left to right, Nick Tripodi, Adam Miksis and Dante Clausen. Chief John Piccola, far right, looked on, as did Council members Trisha Walsh and Anthony Carter. The trio will be in the next class at the Union County Fire Academy.

Mayor Colleen Mahr said the following regarding the recognized individuals:

“It was an honor to recognize several outstanding citizens at last night’s Council Meeting. Judge Leland McGee of Social Justice Matters brought officials, teens, parents, teachers and community together for discussion after a racially charged incident at SPFHS. Go Red For Women campaign to raise awareness about heart disease and strokes for women held several events this month. Nick Tripodi, Adam Miksis and Dante Clausen were sworn in as Volunteer Firefighters and will be headed to the Union Co Firefighter Academy soon. These people are an example of why Fanwood is such a special town. Thank you all.”

The Council also passed resolutions that 1) secure funding for the re-engineering and repaving of Stewart Place, Ginder Place, a portion of Paterson Road and paving of portions of Montrose Avenue, Pleasant Avenue and Cray Terrace that were only partially paved last year 2) monitoring and repair of Fanwood’s 26 miles of underground sewer pipes, a shared services agreement with the Plainfield Area Sewage Authority (PARSA) and 3) awarded contracts to repair and update the bathrooms in LaGrande and Forest Road Park and installation of new floors for both buildings.