News

COVID-19 vaccinations have begun at various vaccination centers throughout Essex County, including the former Sears building at the Livingston Mall. The Livingston Mall location is serving residents of Livingston, as well as residents of Belleville, Maplewood, Millburn, Newark, Orange, and South Orange.

The vaccination center at the Sears location opened Saturday, December 26, and will be open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., by appointment only. At this time, only healthcare workers in phase 1a are eligible to receive the vaccine.

The Moderna vaccine will be administered at the Sears location vaccination center and must be dispensed in two doses. The two doses must be given a minimum of 28 days apart.

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January 1, 2021 will be the first day since 1978 that Mike Anello won’t be reporting for work at the township garage.

The superintendant of the Livingston Department of Public Works (DPW) is retiring after nearly 43 years on the job. Anello started working at the DPW in 1978 as part of a work-study program. After graduating from Livingston High School in 1979, he stayed with the DPW, and has never worked anywhere else.

The DPW has come a long way in that time. Anello, who became “the boss” in 1988, at the tender age of 28, recalls that when he started, the DPW had just six employees; he was number seven. During his career, the department grew to some 60 employees before it merged functions with the township’s Parks Department.

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On Tuesday evening, December 29, the Livingston Board of Education approved a three-year agreement with the Livingston Supervisors’ Association. The agreement, which will be effective from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, was the only item on the agenda for the meeting, which had been announced earlier that day.

The Association’s membership comprises 13 subject supervisors. The agreement calls for a 2.5 percent salary increase for 2020-21; and a 3.0 percent increase in each of the following school years.

Brian Carey, Livingston’s grades seven through 12 science supervisor and the Association’s president, said that the Board and negotiating team came up with a fair agreement.

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The West Essex Tribune is celebrating more than six decades of showering the first baby of the new year with an assortment of gifts generously donated by our advertisers. The first baby of 2021 born to Livingston parents will be named the winner of the Tribune’s 63rd annual First Baby Contest.

The rules to determine the winner are the same each year: The first baby of 2021 must be born in a nearby hospital to parents who currently reside in Livingston. The exact time of the birth must be certified in writing by the attending physician.

Entries must be received in the West Essex Tribune office by noon on Tuesday, January 5. The winner will be announced in the January 7 edition of the newspaper.

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A wind and rain storm late on Christmas Eve, December 24, battered the township, taking down trees and causing power outages.

The storm dumped more than two inches ofrain onLivingston, although official figures from the Department of Public Works (DPW) were not available at press time. Damage from the storm required DPW crews to work Christmas Day and throughout the weekend.

High winds and torrential downpours took down trees and power lines throughout northern New Jersey, leaving over 75,000 New Jersey households without power for a time.

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The first snowstorm of the season was a nor’easter that dropped a lot less snow than the one to two feet expected. The storm, which hit New Jersey late Wednesday afternoon, December 16, ended up dropping 8¹/₂ inches of the white stuff on Livingston, noted Chris Atworth, assistant superintendent of the township’s Department of Public Works (DPW).

“All in all, this was not too bad for our first storm of the season,” said Atworth. “We had a few breakdowns, but nothing major.”

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Building relationships with students, incorporating social emotional learning in the classroom; andproviding professional development are a few of the dozens of recommendations to enhance student mental health contained in a report presented to the Board of Education and Township Council on Wednesday, December 16. The joint “five on five” meeting was held virtually on Zoom and can be viewed on the Livingston Public Schools Facebook page.

“Building a Foundation of Hope,” a look at mental health services in schools, was presented by Vince De Lucia, an educator with the New Jersey School Boards Association.

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The Livingston Board of Education and Township Council, at their joint meeting on Wednesday, December 16, took time to honor Charles “Buddy” August upon his retirement from the Board of Education.

“It’s hard to believe this is your last meeting,” said Board president Ronnie Konner, calling him “the ultimate Livingston volunteer.”

August served as a member of the Board of Education from April, 1985 to April, 1994, from April, 1996 through April, 1999, and from January, 2015 through December, 2020, and the Board presented him with a plaque and other “Livingston swag” in appreciation of his 18 years on the Board.

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The Livingston Township Council spoke with Livingston Public School superintendent Matthew Block, discussed a potential drive-in movie theater project, and passed the final ordinances and resolutions of2020 at its Monday, December 21, meeting. This was the final scheduled Council meeting of 2020, and also the last meeting with Shari Weiner as the attorney representing the township and for Rudy Fernandez as mayor. It may be viewed on the Livingston Township, NJ Facebook page.

Superintendent

Superintendent Block discussed the relationship between the township and the schools as both navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The topic was previously discussed at a “five on five” meeting between the Board of Education and Township Council last week.

The last time Rudy Fernandez was mayor, the job was quite different. He has been on the Township Council since 2008, and was previously mayor in 2011 and 2013, the latter of which was Livingston’s bicentennial. But for his third year in “the center seat on the dais,” he had no idea that the COVID-19 pandemic would upend so much of what he knew about the job.

Township business still had to be attended to, sure, but gone were most events, like the ribbon cuttings and flag raisings that typically fill the calendar. Absent were in-person meetings, which were instead held via Zoom and livestreamed on the township’s Facebook page. In ways big and small, this was a year unlike any other, which meant it was a mayoral term like none that had preceded it.

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