MORRIS COUNTY — Niraj Chhabra, Certified Financial Advisor, MBA, CRPC®, CLTC & Christopher J. Gillan, CRPC® with Ameriprise Financial have become an Ameriprise Platinum Financial Services® advisors based on the success of their financial services practice. Chhabra & Gillan, with an office in Cedar Knolls are among the 12 percent of approximately 10,000 Ameriprise financial advisors to achieve this status.
Ameriprise Platinum Financial Services advisors provide personalized client service and are dedicated to meeting the complex and unique financial needs of their clients. This status was achieved through exceptional performance, and attainment of advanced industry qualifications.
As an Ameriprise Platinum Financial Services advisor, they provide financial advice that is anchored in a solid understanding of client needs and expectations, and provided in one-on-one relationships with their clients. For more information, please contact Niraj and Chris at (973) 705-6031.
At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for more than 120 years. With a network of 10,000 financial advisors and outstanding asset management, advisory and insurance capabilities, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of consumer financial needs. For more information, visit ameriprise.com, ameripriseadvisors.com/niraj.x.chhabra or ameripriseadvisors.com/christopher.j.gillan.
PARSIPPANY — The Morris County Board of Freeholders has announced the 2018 list of county road paving projects that will target more than 30 miles across 24 municipalities at a total cost of $9 million, in a continuation of the board’s continuing policy of maintaining and improving the county’s high quality road network.
Freeholder John Cesaro
Portions of county roads scheduled for paving in 2018 are located in Parsippany, Butler, Chatham Borough, Dover, Florham Park, Hanover, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, and Madison.
Work also is set for roads in Mendham Township, Mine Hill, Montville, Morris Township, Morristown, Netcong, Pequannock, Randolph, Rockaway Borough, Rockaway Township, Roxbury, Washington Township, and Wharton.
Some of the more extensive work in Parsippanywill include portions of:
Route 202
Littleton Road
1.7 miles
From Route 10 to Crestview Drive
Route 630
Littleton Road
1/2 mile
Parsippany Boulevard to Smith Road
For 2018, the freeholders have allocated $1.1 million in the county’s capital budget for paving, combined with nearly $7.9 million in anticipated state funding to finance paving projects.
“It is extremely important to properly maintain our county road network in a first-rate county like Morris County,” said Freeholder John Cesaro, the county governing board’s liaison on public works and roads.
“Maintaining our infrastructure is vital to our residents, visitors, medical and educational institutions, and businesses, and is a key factor in our high quality of life.”
To see the complete list of currently scheduled 2018 county paving projects click here.
The Freeholders over the past five years have made the maintenance of the county’s 287-mile road network a priority issue.To expedite projects, the freeholders over the past few years have approved short-term financing to allow the county to bid projects early in the season and move full-speed-ahead during the spring and summer on a full slate of road repaving.
MORRIS COUNTY — New Jersey Assembly voted to strengthen New Jersey’s economy and New Jersey’s families by guaranteeing pay equity for women. In New Jersey women make 80 cents to every a dollar their male counterparts make. For women of color the pay gap is an incredible 58 cents to every dollar for African-American women and 43 cents to every dollar for Latina women. In response to today’s vote Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District issued the following statement:
“In 2018 it is hard to believe that any legislator would vote against ensuring women get equal pay for equal work. I am deeply disappointed that Assemblyman Jay Webber chose to vote, yet again, against legislation that would give the women of New Jersey a well-deserved raise. As one of just two members to vote against this bill, he is out of step with the people of New Jersey and not the type of leader we want in Trenton or deserve in Washington.”
Assemblyman Webber was one of two votes against the equal pay bill which passed the New Jersey Assembly 74 to 2 and 35 to 0 in the New Jersey Senate. Assemblyman Webber is running for Congress in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
PARSIPPANY — Several Parsippany teachers participated in the Damon Runyon 5k for Cancer Research at Yankee Stadium. The event held on Sunday, April 15, was the ninth year that Team Rhino, organized by Eastlake teacher, Tracy Carroll, has participated in the event. This year, Team Rhino was the largest team participating in the run with 65 members. Throughout their years of participation, the team has raised over $23,000 for the foundation.
Carroll’s family members during post-run celebration
The event raises money for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation to fund the research being performed by scientists in how to best prevent, diagnose, and treat all forms of cancer. Carroll became involved in the event in 2010 shortly after losing her dad to esophageal cancer. “As the first Father’s Day approached after losing my dad, I knew I needed to find a way to channel my sadness and anger into something positive, something that would make a difference. As I read more about the Runyon 5k, I was thrilled to see that 100% of the money raised went directly to the research being done rather than to overhead or administrative costs. That seems to be very rare in an event of this type,” Carroll explains.
Team Rhino honoring Mastrangelo’s mother
Vicki Mastrangelo, a teacher at Eastlake School, said, “I have participated in the Damon Runyon Yankee Stadium 5k since 2010, and it is an event I truly look forward to every year! After losing my mother to cancer this past year, I’m even more grateful to be part of such an amazing team that helps turn an unfortunate experience into such a special day!”
Along with other friends and family members, Carroll and Mastrangelo were joined by Eastlake colleagues Kelli Costa, Heather Craner, Lucia Innocent, Michele Mizerek, Mary Ellen Iradi, Maureen Odenwelder, Toni Farneski, and Kathleen Attenasio, as well as Littleton School’s Melanie Ellis and Lake Parsippany’s Meghan Proto.
Team Rhino’s tribute slide on Yankee Stadium’s Jumbotron
So far this year’s event has raised a total of $318,175 for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Donations are still being accepted until Tuesday, May 15, by clicking here.
PARSIPPANY — If you live in the Lower Lake Hiawatha area, join Mayor Soriano’s the fourth of a series of neighborhood Town Halls to speak with your public officials. Mayor Soriano would like to hear your comments, questions and concerns on how to improve your quality of life in Lower Lake Hiawatha area.
This meeting will be held on April 24 at 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Rockaway Meadow Elementary School, 160 Edwards Road.
Please be advised this meeting is not a meeting that is open to the governing body nor will it be held with the intent to discuss or act upon specific public business. A quorum will not be present and no formal action will be taken.
PARSIPPANY — The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities held a public hearing on Thursday, April 12 at Parsippany Town Hall regarding the Matter of the Board’s Review of Major Storm Events of March 2018. This hearing is the second hearing on the subject matter. The first of five hearings was held on Thursday, April 5, Byram Intermediate School.
The purpose of this hearing was to solicit public comments regarding the state of preparedness and responsiveness of the electric distribution companies prior to, during, and after the March 2018 winter storms.
“BPU has officially begun its thorough investigation into the recent power outages, as ordered by Governor Murphy,” said NJBPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso. “We applaud Governor Murphy for making power restoration improvements a priority and BPU will do everything we can to ensure New Jersey residents experience significant improvements during future storms.”
The storms walloped the area on March 2 and March 7. The March 2 storm brought more than a foot of heavy snow and wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour. The storm knocked out power to thousands of people, more than 14,000 homes in Parsippany.
“There were many residents who didn’t have heat and electricity for days, we must do whatever we can to significantly reduce the chance of this happening in the future. Reduce the change, wish I could say eliminate it, but we can’t. To this end, we have launched this investigation which this hearing is a part of, to see as I said, if there was an adherence to those protocols and to see what we could do better as “A” grade majority. We will be looking at the preparedness, mutual assistance agreements, vegetation management, communication, and the potential for underground lines among many other items. Information you provide tonight is an integral part of our investigation and be part of the public record. As I indicated,” said BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso.
Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor Michael Soriano
Mayor Michael Soriano said “Welcome to Parsippany, the crossroads of northern New Jersey. This is a very smart and strategic move on your part to make sure that we were all able to get here in a very easy fashion because we are the crossroads. We have so many roads and we made everyone’s commute easy, especially mine. These storms were like none other than we’re going to hear about that over and over again. I prepared some statements. Parsippany was amongst the hardest hit communities in the state between March 2 Nor’easter and winter storm Quinn; more than half of Parsippany residents were about 53%, representing over 14,000 customers at its peak. Amongst the victims of the storm where people with disabilities and serious health issues; who do not have the option of being without power for three, six or in some cases nine days. I know from personal experience that the men and women of JCP&L spent 16 hour shifts restoring power. They deserve a great deal of praise working in winter conditions is far from easy and I believe I speak for all of Parsippany residences in thanking them for providing a service that is, frankly, life threatening. The field managers at worked closely with me to restore Parsippany outages. We probably need to look towards in the future that when we import Labor into Morris County for JCP&L, from other states, also bringing their Field Managers as well, that would probably help as well with efficiency and just in supervision in general to make sure that the electricians are where they need to be when they need to be.”
He continued “Now again, I thank JCP&L’s leadership and their people for helping us, however, the Board of Directors and Stockholders have made virtually no progress in upgrading the power infrastructure or building resources from major disasters since the devastation of hurricane Irene and Sandy. This lack of vision and planning is what put all of us all in jeopardy. However, JCP&L and is not the only one that failed. I failed. As a leader of this community. As a mayor. I failed. And so did everyone in this room who was a leader of their communities. So did BPU. We all fail. As citizens, we failed. We failed to keep people like me and politicians accountable. We got comfortable. We let Sandy and Irene by us and we said, OK, sunny days, everything will be sunshine and rainbows. That’s not reality there is going to be another storm sooner or later.”
“The fact that we’re still using the same type of utility holes dating to the Morse code lines of the 1840’s. Despite the widespread availability of 21st century technologies, telecommunication companies such as Verizon and Optimum also share the blame in this antiquated state of our electrical and communications infrastructure. It can’t just be on JCP&L. The electrical, telephone and cable and utilities must begin to coordinate the recovery efforts and start squabbling over jurisdictional issues while residents languish in the dark end of the cold. The reality of the situation is this: another storm of this magnitude or even larger will come; it maybe this year or the year after, but it is coming. Major storms, hurricanes, and other disasters are a fact of life. Something that our state has extensive experience and something that we must be more prepared for it. We thought that was going to happen after Hurricane Sandy. It did not. I know I now stand with other communities in our state and saying this to the public utilities and to all of us, we must not let this happen again and we’re here to help you. Again. I want to thank you for coming here. I want to thank you for being proactive and saying, yes, we’re going to investigate this and we’re going to make this better, but as the leader of this community, I don’t just want to come here and point blame and complaint. I want to be part of the solution. I want to help. Thank you,” said Soriano.
When Resolution No. R2018-45, “Endorsing Governor Murphy’s Directive to The Board of Public Utilities to investigate and hold hearings on how Jersey Central Power & Light responded to the recent Winter storms leaving thousands of Township Residents without power,” Councilman Michael dePierro and Councilwoman Loretta Gragnani opposed such resolution to hold such hearings. (Click here to read related article)
Councilman Michael dePierro was the only Parsippany Council member to address the commission. In addition to the Mayor and dePierro, Eric Hubner, Coordinator of Parsippany Office of Emergency Management also addressed the BPU.
dePierro said a problem after every bad storm is that the township is littered with downed trees, power lines, telephone and cable wires. Acknowledging the magnitude of the job, dePierro suggested that JCP&L train two workers in the Parks and Forestry Department to handle such seemingly easy tasks like remove a downed pole blocking a road. This is not a new request. dePierro has made this requested to JCP&L over the years.
In addition to hearings, the Board will closely review the more than 100 utility storm protocols it implemented following Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene to assess whether these protocols were followed during the recent storms and where improvements should be made. In particular, the BPU will be reviewing mutual aid assistance protocols to ensure New Jersey utilities make restoring power in New Jersey their first priority.
If you weren’t able to attend the hearings, you can mail comments to the Board Secretary at aida.camacho@bpu.snj.gov. The comments, maybe also submitted in writing to the Board Secretary, Aida Camacho, 44 South Clinton Avenue, Third Floor, Post Office Box 350, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0350. You must submit all comments by May 30.
Those filing written comments should reference March 2018 Winter Storm Events comments Docket Number EO18030255 in the subject field for emails and in the heading of any written correspondence.
The third hearing will take place on Monday April 16, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Township of Mahwah Municipal Offices, Bergen County at 475 Corporate Drive. The fourth will occur on Monday April 23, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Winslow Township Municipal Building in Camden County. The fifth and final hearing will take place on Friday May 4, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Sergeantsville Firehouse, 761 Sergeantsville Roadd.
PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department is taking back unwanted prescription drugs on Saturday, April 28 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Morris Hills Shopping Center in front of the Harmon Face Values store located at 3189 Route 46.
They cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps, only patches or pills.
This drop off is ONLY for individual citizens. Businesses that deal with pharmaceuticals, doctors, health care providers, and pharmacies are prohibited from disposing of pharmaceuticals at the collection site under FDA/DEA guidelines.
The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.
According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 million Americans abused controlled prescription drugs. The study shows that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.
MORRIS COUNTY — More than $80,000 was raised as four amazing New Jersey women were honored yesterday at the Sixth Annual Tri-County Scholarship Fund Women of Achievement Awards Luncheon at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club.
More than 250 were in attendance at the fundraiser, which was co-chaired by Ann Marie Manahan and Joseph Gonnella, the Chief Development Officer for the Boy Scouts of America Patriots’ Path Council.
The luncheon directly benefits TCSF’s Freedom Scholars program –a partnership between TCSF, schools, and families which assists financially disadvantaged high school students so they are able to afford values-centered, high-performing private schools and also helps them from their Freshman through their Senior year with mentoring, tutoring, college prep courses and more.
PARSIPPANY — E. Drew Britcher of Britcher Leone, LLC, with offices in Parsippany and Glen Rock has been named one of the top 100 attorneys for 2018 by New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine.
This marks the 14th consecutive year that Britcher has been recognized by New Jersey Super Lawyers and the 13th consecutive year he has been named among the Top 100 in the state. Britcher was listed among the Top 10 every year from 2012 to 2016.
Attorney E. Drew Britcher
As head of Britcher Leone’s trial practice, Britcher has successfully prosecuted or resolved hundreds of complex medical negligence, products liability and other personal injury claims. Certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney, he has served as either counsel of record or amicus counsel in more than 35 reported decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of New Jersey and New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division.
AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, Britcher was previously named one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon Magazine and among the “Best of Bergen” by 201 Magazine. In addition, he has received numerous awards for his service to the American Association for Justice, as well as its New Jersey Chapter. In 2015, he was honored with a “Professional Lawyer of the Year” Award by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law.
An at-large national governor of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), he has also served as Past-President of the New Jersey Association for Justice, where he currently chairs its Amicus and Medical Malpractice Committees and has done so for over a decade. Britcher was a founding member of the Board of Trial Lawyers Care, an organization that provided pro bono legal representation to victims and families of victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. He also helped draft the language of New Jersey’s Patients First and Patient Safety Acts and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School, where he teaches courses in medical malpractice law and litigation.
He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, as well as before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
He earned a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.A. from Rutgers College, where he has been inducted as a member of the Order of the Barristers and a Loyal Son, respectively. He is a resident of Parsippany.
Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual patented selections process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.
Britcher Leone is a law firm specializing in personal injury and medical malpractice, with offices in Parsippany and Glen Rock. The firm is also focused on such matters as serious/catastrophic injury, birth injury, vehicular accidents, product liability, nursing home negligence, wrongful death, and defective drugs and medical devices. For more information click here.
PARSIPPANY — Librarians and Staff Members at Parsippany’s three libraries: Main Library, Mount Tabor Branch and Lake Hiawatha Branch were treated to refreshments on this month by members of the Woman’s Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills (WCPTH) to celebrate National Library Workers’ Day Club members treated the staff at all three branches to desserts, chips, fruit and drinks to thank them for their dedication to the Parsippany library system. Club Members were on hand to chat with the staff and thank them in-person.
National Library Workers’ Day was established in 2003 to ‘recognize the hard work, dedication, and expertise of library support staff and librarians.’
This is the fourth year WCPTH has supported National Library Workers’ Day. The club has a special relationship with the library, being one of its first donors in the 1960’s when the township library was established. Nationally, Women’s Clubs are credited with establishing three quarters of the nation’s libraries.
The Woman’s Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills is a member of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs of GFWC, which is the largest volunteer women’s service organization in the state, providing opportunities for education, leadership training, and community service. The next General Meeting is Monday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Parsippany Rescue & Recovery Building, 100 Centerton Drive.
For more information call Cathy at (973) 984-0758, e-mail the club at womansclubofpth@gmail.com, or visit their website by clicking here or follow them on FaceBook.
Meeting schedule is subject to change. Please contact Cathy (Membership Chairman) if interested in attending a meeting or to confirm date and time.
